Housing Benefit (HB) is an income based benefit which is paid to people who pay rent for their home. It is only available to people on a low income who:
- live in temporary accommodation provided by Merton.
- live in supported accommodation in Merton.
- are of pension age and live in Merton.
Moving to Universal Credit
Working age residents who do not fall within these categories and are getting Housing Benefit at the moment, will be moved onto Universal Credit (UC) between now and the end of March 2025. The Department for Work and Pensions will write to you to let you know more about this process. Merton is not able to advise you on the decisions you may need to take as a result of these letters and you should seek advice from the Department for Work and Pension. Your Housing Benefit will continue until the DWP tell us you have moved to Universal Credit or you have a change in circumstances which means you are no longer eligible for Housing Benefit. More details about the move to UC are available on the GOV.UK website.
Popular
In this section
- Housing Benefit appeals
- Housing Benefit changes
- Local Housing Allowance
for claims made after 7th April 2008 - Pre-tenancy determinations
for claims made before 7th April 2008 and certain categories of claims made after 7th April 2008 - Landlords and agents of benefit claimants
information for landlords and agents
Contact us
For more details about our opening hours and how to contact us, go to Merton Benefits Service contact page.
See also
Other Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support pages
- Claiming Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support
- My Tax and Benefits - manage your Housing Benefit claim online
- Benefit fraud
- How we pay benefits
- Benefit overpayments
- Discretionary housing payments
- Reporting changes
- Benefit appeals
- Council Tax Support
Other Merton pages
Related websites
- Benefits adviser (GOV.UK)
Find out if you are entitled to benefits and how much you might get - Department for Work and Pensions website
- The Pension Service website
- HMRC Tax Credits website
- Help the Aged website
- MASCOT Telecare website
- Citizens Advice Bureau website