Change of circumstances
You must tell us straight away about anything that could affect your benefit entitlement.
Remember it is a criminal offence not to tell us of a change which affects your benefit claim!
You should always tell us about a change in writing. You can use our "Change of Circumstance form".
You should tell us about any changes within one calendar month of the date of change. If you do not tell us straight away and the change means that you should get more benefit, we may only award the new benefit from the Monday after you tell us.
However, if your benefit goes down because of a change in circumstances (e.g. your income increases, someone moves in with you, etc), we will always go back to the date of the change. Any benefit overpaid because you do not tell us of the change, will have to be paid back. See the document - "How we deal with overpayments" for more details.
The following are some of the changes you should tell us about:
Changes to you and your partner's income
- an award of or change to Tax Credits
- if you or your partner start working - see the linked document on Extended Payments
- if you or your partner stop working
- if Income Support/Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) stops or starts
- if Job Seekers Allowance (Contribution Based) starts or stops
- an increase in pension, including changes to Pension Credit and other private/employer pensions
- an award of or ending of any other benefit or allowance (e.g. Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Carers Allowance, Disability Living Allowance etc)
- increases or decreases in the amount of savings
- any other changes to income you receive
Changes about your home
- if your rent changes
- if you move (you will need to complete a change of circumstance form for the new address)
Changes to people who live with you
- if someone comes to live with you
- if someone living with you moves out
- if someone living with you starts or finishes work or their income changes
This list does not include everything you need to tell us about.
See also the documents opposite for more information about how some changes are dealt with.
Remember - you will need to send original details to confirm any change.
If you are not sure what you must tell us about, tell us anyway and we will let you know exactly how it will affect your claim.
Do we review your claim?
Yes, we do review your entitlement. We may visit or write to you and ask you to confirm if the details we hold have changed.
However, it is your responsibility to tell us straight away about any thing which may change your benefit.