Designated Offices

Customers who are applying for/claiming Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit must send their completed benefit claim forms and all relevant documents, and report their changes in circumstances, to PO Box 5650, Inverness, IV3 5YX or any one of The Highland Council's designated offices as detailed on the list below.

Claims, documentation and notifications of changes in circumstances received at any other office which is not contained on the designated list will take longer to be passed to the Council's Operations Team which will result in a delay in paying you your benefit and could mean that you lose out on some of your benefit entitlement.

It is extremely important that all documentation is sent to one of The Highland Council's designated offices. Benefit entitlement is normally assessed from the Monday following the receipt date of the completed claim form at a designated office. The examples below illustrate the importance of customers sending all documents to any of The Highland Council's designated offices as detailed on the list below.

On 11 September 2009, customer A submits a completed claim form and all required evidence to his local Planning office which is not listed on the designated offices list. The local Planning Team forwards all the documentation to the Council's Operations Team at PO Box 5650, Inverness, IV3 5YX the same day as they received it (11 September 2009). It is received by the Operations Team on 14 September 2009. Customer A will have benefit assessed from 21 September 2009 as benefit is normally assessed from the Monday following the receipt date of the completed claim at a designated office. In this example, the designated office is the PO Box, 5650, Inverness, IV3 5YX.

On 11 September 2009, customer B submits a completed claim form and all required evidence to his local Housing & Property office which is listed on the designated offices list. The local Housing & Property Team forwards all the documentation to the Council's Operations Team at PO Box 5650, Inverness, IV3 5YX the same day as they received it (11 September 2009). It is received by the Operations Team on 14 September 2009. Customer B will have benefit assessed from 14 September as benefit is normally assessed from the Monday following the receipt date of the completed claim at a designated office. In this example, the designated office is the Council's local Housing & Property Office.

Service Points

Policy and Development Team

Operations Team

Income and Recovery Team

Housing and Property Services

Housing Associations

Please note that Housing Associations can only accept claim forms from their tenants.

Social Work Offices