Submit documents to support your claim

You may need to provide us with documentary evidence to enable us to assess your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction claim. These documents can be submitted using our online form.

The sooner you provide any evidence required the quicker we can process your claim for benefits.

Required documents

You will be required to provide two forms of identification, one of which should have your National Insurance number (NINO) on it. If you have a partner, you will be required to provide evidence of their identity as well.

Examples of acceptable documents include:

• National Insurance number card
• Birth certificate (full or short)
• Passport (must be current and valid)
• UK residence permit
• Recent award letter for DWP benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support and Pension Credits
• Divorce/annulment papers
• Driving licence
• Home Office Standard Acknowledgement Letter (SAL1 or 2)
• Identity card issued by an European Economic Area (EEA) or European Commission (EC) member state
• Letter from solicitor/social worker/probation officer/Inland Revenue
• Marriage certificate
• Medical card
• Wage slips from your current employer

You should not send important documents by post. All documents provided should be originals.

Providing the right evidence

You can use the drop off box in the Customer Centre reception to leave documents, they will be scanned and sent back to you in the post or you can make an appointment to bring in your documents.

Please call 020 8891 1411 to make an appointment. If your documents are only received online such as bank statements or payslips please email these documents to benefits@richmond.gov.uk.

Your claim

Do not delay making a claim or award application if you do not have all the supporting information that the form asks for, otherwise you may lose benefit or reduction. We will write to you if you have not sent all the necessary evidence.

The sooner you provide any evidence required the quicker we can process your claim for benefits.

Submitting documents

If you are unsure what documents you need to provide, please call Customer Services on 020 8891 1411.

If you are unable to provide the documents we have asked for, you need to tell us why. We will then let you know what to do next.

Document type and size

Any documents uploaded should be in the following formats only:

• GIF
• JPEG
• Microsoft Word
• PDF
• PNG
• Tiff

Files must not be larger than 10MB.

You will need

• Your documents 
• Your Housing Benefit claim or Council Tax Reduction reference number (if you have one)

Submit your documents

Further evidence

If we require further evidence or documentation, we will write to you and tell you what is missing. Reasonable time will be allowed for you to supply the evidence.

In some circumstances we may need to see original documents. We will write to you if these are required.