How Will My Benefit Be Paid?

 

Housing Benefit will be paid directly to your rent account.

 

 

 

Housing Benefit can be paid either directly to yourself or to your landlord.  The person who receives the payment is known as the payee.

 

If your Housing Benefit is paid based on Local Housing Allowance, in almost all cases the benefit will be paid directly to you.

 

If you have asked for Housing Benefit to be paid to you, we will usually send you a crossed cheque every four weeks to cover the four weeks that have just passed.  This is known as payment in arrears.  You can also ask for Housing Benefit to be paid directly into your bank account.

 

Although some claimants prefer to have their Housing Benefit paid to their landlord, we usually have to pay your Housing Benefit straight to your landlord if you owe them eight weeks rent or more.  In addition, we may decide that it is in your best interests to pay your Housing Benefit directly to your landlord.

 

 

 

If we are paying your Housing Benefit to your landlord and you ask us to start paying to you, we will need to make sure that you do not have any rent arrears before we can amend the payee.

 

 

 

We pay Council Tax Benefit directly to your Council Tax account.    Once the benefit has gone on to your account, the Council Tax section will send you a revised bill to show you how much Council Tax you still have to pay.

 

The Council Tax pages provide more information about Paying your Council Tax.

 

 

There is - no matter how your Benefit is paid you must let us know if there is a change in your circumstances.  Go to What Happens if my Circumstances Change for more information.

 

If you have any further enquiries please visit Points of Contact Benefits Help.