Housing and Council Tax Benefits

How we pay housing benefit and council tax benefit

When you fill in the claim from, we will ask you how you want us to pay housing benefit.

If you are a private tenant

We can pay benefit direct to you or we can pay this to your landlord if:

You ask us to pay this way
Your landlord provides us with written evidence that you owe rent that is more than 8 weeks in arrears
Your landlord is receiving money from the Department for Work and Pensions to pay off rent arrears
We think it is in the best interest of the claimant

This is normally paid 4 weeks in arrears.

If you are a council tenant

We will pay benefit direct to your rent account every week.

Council tax benefit is paid direct to your council tax account. Once paid you will receive a new bill, which shows the amount of benefit awarded and if there is a balance outstanding for you to pay.