Benefits change in circumstances

You will need to let us know if any changes happen with:

• the people that live in your house
• the income of anyone in your house
• your capital

If you are not sure if your change in circumstance will affect your benefits, tell us anyway.

Who lives in your household

You must let us know if:

• anyone moves into or out of your home, including lodgers and subtenants
• you have a child
• any of your children leave school or leave home
• you or your partner are going to be away from home for four weeks or more
• someone you live with dies

Where you live

You must let us know if:

• you move (this includes moving to another flat or room at the same address)
• your rent changes

Please note: If you are moving to a different council area, you may need to apply for Universal Credit.

Your income

You must let us know if:

• your income or the income of anyone living with you changes, including getting other benefits, for example, Tax Credits
• you or your partner's wages go up or down
• you or anyone living with you starts work

Your capital

You must let us know if:

• your capital or savings change. We need to know if you have more than £6,000, £10,000 or £16,000 in your bank account or in assets

When do you need to tell us?

You need to tell us about a change in your circumstances within 21 days.
It's important that you inform us as quickly as possible because you:

• may miss out on money you are entitled to
• be overpaid
• have to pay a financial penalty

What happens next?

In most cases, we will write to you within 2 weeks, even if nothing has changed.

If you have an online account, you can log in to see if any changes have been made.

Sign up or log in to your account.

If you haven't heard from us, contact us.