Elderly get help with rent and Council Tax

11:38am Friday 28th December 2007

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OLDER people in Crewe and Nantwich will soon be able to get more help with rent and Council Tax bills without having to send off any forms.

The Pension Service will deal with the entire application over the phone when people claim Pension Credit - and then send on the claim information to the local authority responsible for paying their Housing and Council Tax Benefits.

Minister for Pensions Reform Mike O'Brien said: "This change will make the application process speedier and more automatic - helping thousands more older people with housing and Council Tax costs.

"We've already taken a lot of the pain out of claiming - by providing advisers to complete Pension Credit, Housing and Council Tax Benefit applications over the phone.

"But once they've received a completed form from the Pension Service, we know around half don't forward it on to the council that would pay their Housing and Council Tax benefits.

"From October 2008, the Pension Service will send the information automatically - meaning more over-60s get the help they're entitled to."

As part of the package - aimed at making the system simpler and less intrusive - back-dating of Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims will now be limited to three months.

At the moment arrears can be back-dated for up to a year, but this requires pensioners to provide details of their circumstances for the past year.