Existing claims

My circumstances have changed, do I need to notify you?

You must report all changes in your circumstances to the council immediately. You may be asked to provide evidence to support your change. Types of changes you need to report include:

• changes in household members
• change of address
• change of your income for you, your partner and other household members
• change in rent
• change in expenses
• changes in capital over £6,000 for working age claimants
• changes in capital over £10,000 for pension age claimants.

Failure to report a change in your circumstances promptly may result in you being overpaid. The council will then recover any overpayment from you. You could also face prosecution or an administrative penalty.

If you are self employed, you can find more information on our Self-employed page.

What help can I get from the council?

The council has its own welfare visiting team, who offer a benefit and debt advice service which may be able to assist you if you are experiencing financial difficulties and will also check that you are receiving all the benefits you are entitled to. 

To find out more visit our Money advice page. 

The council has a limited budget to award discretionary housing payments. This scheme offers short-term additional help to customers who have a shortfall in their housing costs and are experiencing difficulty in paying their rent. 

You can apply online. You must list all of your income and expenditure so we can consider your application. 

However, you cannot make an application until your housing benefit has been reduced:

Apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment 

Discretionary Housing Payment policy (pdf 283kb)

Our employment education and skills team can offer all sorts of advice and support to help you get back to work.  

Whether you are 18 or 58, our team work closely with local employers to match your skills and experience to jobs available.

Please find out more at the Employment and skills page.

Why have I been paid too much?

You may have been paid an amount you may not be entitled to for a number of reasons:

• you may have forgotten to tell us that you, your partner or an adult member of your homes income has increased, for example, working tax credit, state benefits or work pensions
• somebody may have moved into or out of your household
• a member of your household may have turned 18
• you may have moved home and not told us
• you, your partner or an adult member of your home may have started work, changed jobs or had a wage increase.

The benefits team will write to you explaining:

• how much you have been overpaid
• the reason why you have been overpaid
• the period the overpayment covers
• how we will recover the overpayment.
  

How can I repay my overpayment?

Housing benefit

For more information about how to repay your housing benefit overpayment, please visit our overpayments page.

Council tax support

If your entitlement to council tax support changes, your council tax bill will be adjusted and a revised bill will be issued. The bill will advise you of the outstanding amount, and an instalment plan will be included.

Please see the council tax payments page for further information.

Will I be affected by the Benefit Cap?

The Welfare Reform and Work Act (2016) introduced some changes to the benefit cap. 

These changes took effect on 7 November 2016 for existing claimants and 28 November 2016 for new claimants, include changes to the benefit cap levels to £23,000 a year for couples with or without children and lone parents and £15,410 for single people without children in Greater London, and £20,000 and £13,400 respectively for those groups elsewhere in Great Britain. 

They also include additional exemptions for recipients of Guardian’s Allowance, Carer’s Allowance and Universal Credit claimants who receive payments towards carer’s costs. 

To see if you are affected by the benefit cap, please visit the below link:

Are you affected by the benefit cap? (external council website)

For more information about the benefit cap changes please visit:

GOV.UK - Benefit cap (external website)

If you are in financial hardship and have a shortfall in your rent we may be able to award a Discretionary Housing Payment. For further information and to apply, visit the link below:

Apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment

If you would like help with your finances, and budgeting, please contact our Welfare visiting team.

What help can I get from the council?

The council has its own welfare visiting team, who offer a benefit and debt advice service which may be able to assist you if you are experiencing financial difficulties and will also check that you are receiving all the benefits you are entitled to. 

To find out more visit our Money advice page.

The council has a limited budget to award discretionary housing payments. This scheme offers short-term additional help to customers who have a shortfall in their housing costs and are experiencing difficulty in paying their rent. 

You can apply online. You must list all of your income and expenditure so we can consider your application. 

However, you cannot make an application until your housing benefit has been reduced:

Apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment 

Discretionary Housing Payment policy (pdf 283kb)

Our employment education and skills team can offer all sorts of advice and support to help you get back to work.  

Whether you are 18 or 58, our team work closely with local employers to match your skills and experience to jobs available.

Please find out more at the Employment and skills page.

Can I request a hold on recovery action and additional fees?

Read about the new, statutory scheme called ‘Breathing Space’ which is designed to provide people with debt problems the right to legal protection from creditors for a limited period of time.

I have received a letter to review my benefit claim, what do I need to do?

You will have recently received a letter from East Riding of Yorkshire Council asking you to complete an online review of your claim.

Before you start:

To complete the review you must be the person who is claiming housing benefit and/or council tax support

You will also need the following information to hand to successfully complete the review:

• The letter we sent to you with you with your claim checker reference   
  
• Your housing benefit and/or council tax support reference number   
  
• National Insurance number   
  
• Date of Birth (in the format 01-APR-2016)
  
• Postcode.
  

You must complete and submit this claim review within the time specified on the 'claim checker' letter you received, failure to do so may mean that your benefits will be stopped. 

Please note: if you have problems accessing the review you may need to allow pop-ups in your browser to continue. 

To begin your online review click on the link below:   

What is the council tax hardship fund?

As part of its response to COVID-19, the Government have provided Local Authorities in England with new Council Tax Hardship funding to support economically vulnerable people and their households. 

This fund will be used to reduce council tax bills in the 2020/21 financial year by up to £150 for working age council tax payers who are in receipt of council tax support. 

The reduction of up to £150 is a one off reduction to your council tax bill for 2020/21, and will be applied directly to your council tax account.  If your previous bill was £150 or more, then the full £150 reduction should have been applied; if your bill was less than £150, then your bill should be reduced to zero.

The additional reduction of up to £150 can only be given once, you will not receive a further reduction should you change address in the East Riding area during 2020/21 or between Local Authority areas. 

Where this reduction leaves a Council Tax account in credit due to payments already made, a refund will be provided. 

Further information can be found at  GOV.UK (External Website) 

Revised council tax bills are being issued from 12 May 2020, however, you can view your council tax account 24/7 online using our online service:

View my council tax account online