Discretionary housing payments

What is a discretionary housing payment?

It is a payment we can give you if your housing benefit or council tax benefit is less than the full amount of your rent or council tax. This payment will not cover the cost of fuel, water or food charges which maybe included in your rent.

Discretionary housing payments are not payments of housing benefit or council tax benefit.

Claiming a discretionary housing payment

• If you get housing benefit you can claim a discretionary housing payment to help you pay your rent
• If you get council tax benefit you can claim a discretionary housing payment to help you pay your council tax

If you think you may qualify for extra help please contact the housing benefit office.

How do you decide if I can have a payment?

We will ask you to give us a lot of information, and if we need more we will write and ask for it, as we must be satisfied that you need more help with your housing costs.

Before making a decision we will look at:

• your total income
• if you have savings
• if anyone else is able to help you financially
• if you could re-arrange your finances to ease the situation
• if you or your family have any special circumstances, like ill health or disability

How much can I get and for how long?

• each claim is looked at individually
• the amount received depends on your circumstances
• the award will be for a specific length of time

How will I be paid?

If your application is successful, we will pay your discretionary housing payment with any housing benefit or council tax benefit you get.

What happens if I disagree with your decision.

You cannot appeal against our decision not to award discretionary housing payments but you can ask us to provide an explanation of our decision.

If you disagree with the amount or period of the award, you should write to us within one month of the date of the letter telling you about the discretionary housing payment  We will then look at the discretionary housing payment we awarded and see whether it needs to be changed. We will write to you with our decision.

What if my circumstances change?

If your circumstances change you must tell us, in writing, within one month. We will then look at our decision to see whether it needs to be changed. We may be able to pay you more.

If we think you should get less, you might have to pay back some or all of the discretionary housing payment we have paid.

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