Backdated claims

It may be possible to have your benefit paid from an earlier date before than the date you made your claim. However you must request backdating in writing and you must also show good cause for not claiming earlier.

The length of time for which a claim can be backdated depends on whether you are of working age or pension credit age.

Working age customers

• Women aged under 60
• Men aged under 65
• The maximum period for which housing and council tax benefit claims may be backdated is six months
• Customers will need to show good cause why they haven't claimed benefit earlier

Pension credit age customers

• The maximum period for which housing and council tax benefit claims may be backdated is three months
• Customers do not need to show good cause why they didn't claim benefit earlier

Working age men aged 60 to 64

Men aged 60 to 64 are working age customers, but are also entitled to claim Pension Credit. The following rules will apply to this group:

• If the customer, or partner, is in receipt of income support (IS), income-based jobseeker's allowance JSA (IB), or income related employment support allowance ESA (IR) or are working and on low income, housing and council tax benefit can be backdated for six months. The customer will need to show good cause for not claiming before
• If the customer is claiming pension credit (and no partner is in receipt of IS, JSA (IB) or ESA (IR)), the housing and council tax benefit can be backdated for 3 months. The customer does not need to show good cause for not claiming before

How do I apply to have my claim backdated?

The easiest way to apply is to complete our simple, secure, online backdating request form.

To be successful, you must be able to provide good reasons why you did not claim from an earlier date. Each case will be considered on its own merit and it is important that you include all relevant information and evidence to support your request.

For example, if the reason that you could not claim was that you were ill and had no one to claim on your behalf, you should send us a letter or statement from your doctor confirming this.

Here are some other examples of what may be a good reason for requesting that we backdate your claim: 

• You can not manage your own affairs and have no one to act on your behalf
• You did not know that you could claim benefit because of your age, reading difficulties or language difficulties

We will write to you if we need further information to help us make our decision.

Once we have considered your request we will write to you to tell you whether or not your request for backdated benefit has been successful.

If it has, we will tell you how much benefit you have been awarded. If however we have decided that we cannot award you backdated benefit, we will write to you to tell you why. If you do not agree with our decision, you can appeal.