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Make a claim for housing benefit and council tax reduction

Help with your council tax

If you pay council tax to Blackpool Council and have savings less than £16,000 you can apply to us for help. 

Help with your rent

If you pay rent and have savings less than £16,000 you can apply for help with your rent to Universal Credit.

Universal Credit is only paid from the date the DWP receive your claim so you should apply straight away.

Important: If you apply to Blackpool Council for help with your rent when you should have applied to the DWP for Universal Credit you will lose money as the DWP will not backdate your claim.

You should only apply to Blackpool Council for help with your rent if:

  • You are a pensioner (and your partner if you have one is a pensioner), or
  • You live in a hostel, refuge, sheltered housing or a supported living complex
  • And you pay rent in the Blackpool Council area

Blackpool Council can only deal with claims for help with rent for the people listed above.

If this is not you it is important that you apply to Universal Credit for help with your rent.

Once you start your claim you should keep a note of your form reference number beginning BPL (e.g. BPL9999) should you need to contact us about your claim.

If you are already receiving housing benefit from us and you move home within Blackpool please let us know.

You can now access your housing benefit entitlement details plus your payment details as soon as they have been produced by going online and registering for the benefits service.

Please note if you choose to do this you must also register for eNotifications at the same time. This will ensure you receive an email whenever a change is made to your claim. You will also then be able to view all correspondence issued to you via our online service.

More information regarding the electronic collection of data in relation to housing benefit and council tax reduction claims can be found in the Blackpool Council policy document

Our benefits page has lots of information about claiming benefits in Blackpool.

If you have an enquiry you can email benefits@blackpool.gov.uk. It would help if you include the reason for your email in the email subject for example:

  • Arrears
  • Change of address
  • Change in circumstances
  • Change of bank details
  • New claim
  • Overpayment enquiry
  • Discretionary housing payment
  • Appeal

You could also contact us by post or visit the Customer First centre.