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CONTACT

Council Tax Service
Benefits Service

General enquiries: 03450 450 500

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Popular FAQs

• How do I claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit?
• What happens if I cannot pay my council tax?
• I live on my own, can I get a council tax discount?
• How is my benefit worked out?
• What is my council tax band and how is this decided?

Other FAQs

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) bedroom rates

Tenants are NOT affected by the LHA scheme

• Registered social landlord tenancies e.g., Council or Housing Associations
• Protected cases, such as tenancies provided by a charity or voluntary body who also provide support services
• Tenancies which are excluded from the existing rent restrictions, such as pre 1989 tenancies
• Tenancies of caravans, houseboats, mobile homes and hostels
• Board and lodge accommodation where The Rent Service (TRS) has decided that a substantial part of the rent is attributable to board and attendance.

NOTE: This is NOT a full list of all the tenancy types that are exempt from the new Local Housing Allowance scheme.

The Rent Officer sets the relevant levels of LHA (Maximum Eligible Rent) every month for individuals, couples and families requiring the appropriate number of bedrooms ranging from a shared-room rate up to and including a 4 bedroom rate in each rental area. The appropriate bedroom rates for each month are listed below.

With effect from April 2011, even if your family unit requires 5 bedrooms or more, we can only use the 4 bedroom rate.

The LHA rate that applies it normally the month we receive your form. However, if your benefit is backdated and the start of your benefit falls in a differerent month the rate that will apply is the month your benefit starts.

For example

Mr X applied for benefit in July. Normally the July LHA rate would apply. However, he asked for benefit to be backdated to May and this was agreed. Mr Xs' housing benefit would be assessed on Mays LHA rate.

One bedroom for:-

• Every adult couple in self contained accommodation
• Any other adult aged 16 or over
• Any two children of the same sex up to and including age 15
• Any two children regardless of sex under age 10
• Any other child

IMPORTANT - The following are NOT included as part of the family/household unit when calculating the appropriate numbers of bedrooms needed.

• Foster children
• Dependant children who do NOT live with the parent/guardian for the majority of the time
• Joint Tenant(s)

N.B. The above criteria does NOT relate to the 'Shared Room' rate given in the tables below. The 'Shared Room' rate normally applies to single persons or couples without children in shared accommodation or a single person under 25 years of age in self-contained accommodation.

Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA)

There are three broad rental market areas covering the administrative area of South Cambridgeshire District Council:

• CAMBRIDGE
• HUNTINGDON
• STEVENAGE & NORTH HERTS

Nearly all 'CB' postcodes in South Cambs come under CAMBRIDGE. All 'PE' postcodes in South Cambs come under HUNTINGDON. The vast majority of 'SG' postcodes come under CAMBRIDGE, though a handful also come under HUNTINGDON and STEVENAGE + NORTH HERTS.

• You can find out which BMRA a property falls into and the LHA value by visiting the LHA direct website. (This link will open in a new window) [If your property does not appear, it may be that the postcode has not been allocated to a BRMA. If you are sure the address/postcode of your property is in our administrative area, but isn't found, email the postcode to lha.benefits@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window) and the definitive area will be confirmed by return email as soon as it has been correctly allocated to a BRMA].

LHA rates for the the current and last 4 months

ROOM RATES

Application received or claim treated as made in February 2012

Application received or claim treated as made in January 2012

Application received or claim treated as made in December 2011