Your Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction may be affected if you have a non-dependent person living with you
Someone over 18 who lives with you may affect how much Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction you get because they're expected to pay towards housing costs and Council Tax. They can be:
- relatives
- friends
- children who've left school or college and who you no longer get Child Benefit for
They're called non-dependants.
We take set amounts off your benefit for them based on their income.
There are some exceptions when we don't take any deductions for non-dependants:
We do not make a deduction for any non-dependant if you or your partner:
- are blind or have recently regained sight
- get the care component of disability living allowance or daily living component of personal independence payment or
- get attendance allowance
We do not make a deduction if the non-dependant is:
- under 18 years old
- getting pension credit (either kind)
- (for Housing Benefit) under 25 years old and getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, is in the assessment phase of income related Employment and Support Allowance, or who has no earned income and is getting Universal Credit
- (for Council Tax Reduction) getting Jobseeker's Allowance Income Based, Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance income related any phase, or who has no earned income and is getting Universal Credit
- a full-time student (except for Housing Benefit during summer holidays if they work 16 hours or more per week and both you/your partner are aged under 65)
Other circumstances can apply where we must not make a deduction and we'll consider these when we process your claim.