The situations where someone has to make a new claim for HB have reduced since the change in circumstances rules came into force in April 2004. The majority of changes for a tenant already on HB are treated as a change in circumstances.

For new tenants who are not already on HB you will need to work out who can claim HB. This is generally a straightforward assessment of their circumstances but becomes complicated if they are a student, have savings or a house to sell, and so on. And generally HB will not be paid until the tenant moves into the property.

You may also have existing tenants who have not been claiming but become entitled due to a change in their circumstances, or because they are unaware they can claim (for instance a former partner of the tenant who has left the property, or a pensioner with more than £16,000 in savings who gets Guarantee Pension Credit).

If they can claim they will need to be advised what to do to ensure HB payments are not delayed or their claim withdrawn.

Where a tenant delays making a claim for HB, or was unaware that they could claim, they may need to request that their claim is backdated for up to 6 months showing good cause; note: people who have reached Pension Credit age do not have to show good cause their claim can be automatically 'backdated', but only for up to 3 months.