Income and savings
Income
We count almost all income you receive. This includes things like:
- Social Security benefits
- private pensions
- wages - we count the money you earn from work after money has been taken out for tax and national insurance contributions, plus half of any money you pay into a pension fund
Some types of income and benefits are ignored but we will advise you of this when we calculate your benefit. If you are not sure how much income you have, please declare it when you make your claim. Failure to do so could result in an overpayment of benefit and further action could be considered.
Savings
If you have savings or capital of more than £16,000, you cannot get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support.
If you are below state pension age, or if you are part of a couple and are both under state pension age, it will not affect your claim if you have £6,000 or less. However, if you or your partner have between £6,000 and £16,000, it does affect how much benefit you get. For every £250 (or part of £250) you have over £6,000, we add £1.00 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit. This is called 'tariff income'.
If you or your partner have reached state pension age and have savings of £10,000 or less, it will not affect your claim. Tariff income will only be used if you have between £10,000 and £16,000. For every £500 (or part of £500) you have over £10,000, we add £1.00 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit. This is called 'tariff income'. If you receive Guarantee Pension Credit no tariff income will be used in the calculation of your entitlement.
If you're not sure of your savings total, please declare it when you make your claim.