change in circumstances for tax credits/housing benefit

[Coco0123]

My salary has reduced quite dramatically this last month & is likely to stay this way for the foreseeable future. Do I contact tax credits before housing benefit people?
I think that housing benefit take your tax credits/income into account before they can work out what you're entitled to but I'm not sure? So am I right in thinking I need to get tax credits sorted first?

Sorry if I seem a bit thick, only been receiving some housing benefit for the last 6 months.

I always do tax credits before HB because TC affect HB but not the other way round.

When my salary changed i rang TC first and by the time i took my first payslip into HB the TC had already been updated on the system.

Great, thanks for that fairgame I'll ring tax credits tomorrow and try to get that sorted first.

It won't make a difference to your HB until you renew your tax credits as they won't increase until then. Also the tax credits will ignore the first 5000 of your pay reduction.

Surely you can do them both at he same time! Housing benefit won't alter anything until they see proof of new income ie payslips etc. tax credits will amend your figure some time after the start of April.

My tax credits figure changed straight away when my hours changed, they haven't waited til april.

Tax credits do respond to mid year changes thy don't wait for renewal

Sorry must depend on individual circumstances. Mine have never changed with income until renewal.