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If you want to claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, you can do one of the following: -
If you are unable to visit the office due to illness or disability we may be able to make a visit to your home.
Please read the form and the notes on the form thoroughly before completing it and send your claim to us as quickly as possible as your claim will usually start from the date we receive your form or from the following Monday. Please keep these notes somewhere safe as you may need to read them again.
If you have difficulty with any of the questions, please call us on 01372 474060 or come and see us at the Civic Centre in Esher, from Monday to Friday between 8.45am and 5pm. If you want to see us but cannot come to the Civic Centre because you are elderly, sick or disabled, and you do not have anyone who can help you, we may arrange to visit you. Please call us on 01372 474060 to arrange a visit. You can also get free, independent advice and help from the Citizens' Advice Bureau at Walton on 01932 248660 and at Esher on 01372 464770 (website: |Citizens Advice).
Before you return this form, please make sure that you have fully answered all the questions for you, your partner and all the people in your household, and enclosed all the proof we need. Check the form carefully and then sign the declaration. Send the form back to us straight away, even if you do not have all the proof we need (see below).
Each section of the form tells you what kind of proof we need for your claim. We cannot work out your benefit if you do not send us all the proof we have asked you for. It is very important that you send us all the proof we need for your claim or you may lose benefit. If you do not have the proof we have asked you for, do not delay returning your form. Call us on 01372 474060 and we will tell you what you need to do. All documents must be original copies. If this is not possible, please telephone Customer Services on 01372 474060.
When you have filled in the whole form, checked that you have filled in all the sections and answered all the questions you need to, and then carefully read and signed the declaration, return the form to us. Also send us any proof you have that we have asked for, but do not delay returning the form. You can always send us your proof later as soon as you get it. You need to tell us if you are going to do this. If you delay sending us your form you may lose some benefit. Please return the form and your proof to:
Elmbridge Borough Council
Civic Centre
High Street
Esher
Surrey KT10 9SD
When we receive your form we will check to see if you have provided all the information we need. If we need any other proof or have any questions, we will phone you (if you have given us a contact number) or write to you.
When we have all the information we need, we will work out your claim. We will write to you to tell you if you can get any Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit. We will also tell you what information we have used to work out your claim.
We usually pay benefit from the Monday after we get your form, but we can backdate it in certain circumstances.
Any Council Tax Benefit you receive will be taken off the Council Tax you have to pay and you will receive a new bill.
If you are entitled to Housing Benefit, we can pay it as follows: -
We will use the information you give us in this form, and in any proof you send us, to work out your claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
We may pass the information to other agencies or organisations such as the Department for Work and Pensions, the Employment Service and the Inland Revenue, as allowed by the law. We may check the information you have given, or information given about you by someone else, against other information we already have. We may also ask other agencies, organizations, local authorities or government departments to give us information they have about you.
We will not give information about you to anyone else, or use the information about you for other purposes. We, Elmbridge Borough Council, are the 'data controller' for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. If you want to know more about what information we have about you, or the way we use that information, please call us on 01372 474060.