When you can claim
The Housing Payment provides financial support and extra help towards housing costs and is paid by an Authority when they are satisfied that an applicant requires further financial assistance with housing costs.
Housing Payments provide extra help to customers who need further financial assistance with their housing costs. This will usually be because there is a shortfall between the amount of benefit they get and their rent.
These payments can be made to you if you are entitled to either:
- Housing Benefit
- Universal Credit with housing costs towards rental liability
- This includes Shared Ownership properties which carry a rental liability
Under certain circumstances extra help may be available to you if:
- we cannot meet your rent in full
- you need help with a rent deposit, rent in advance or removal costs
What are of the shortfall Housing Payments cover
You have a shortfall if the amount of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit housing costs you receive is less than the rent you have to pay.
There may be different reasons why you have a shortfall. Here are a few examples of the types of shortfall housing payments can help with:
- when your benefit is reduced because of the benefit cap
- when the local housing allowance is less than the rent you must pay and your landlord will not reduce your rent
- when your benefit is reduced because of the spare bedroom deduction
- when your benefit is reduced based on your income
If you are living in over large or over expensive accommodation, we will normally expect you to move to smaller, more affordable accommodation.
We may pay you a Housing Payment for a short time to give you time to find other alternative, more affordable accommodation.
If there are special reasons why you need to remain in your current home, for example, if your home has been significantly adapted to meet the needs of a disabled person, we will not expect you to move.
What the payments do not cover
We cannot pay Housing Payments to help with the following costs:
- Ineligible service changes
- Increases in rent due to outstanding rent arrears
- Sanctions & reductions in benefits
- Shortfalls caused by Housing Benefit or Universal Credit overpayment recovery
- Benefit suspensions
We will not usually pay you Housing Payments if we think you can deal with the shortfall in other ways such as:
- claiming other benefits you may be entitled to
- negotiating any debt repayments
- cutting down on unnecessary and avoidable expenses
Crisis and Resilience Fund
We receive money from the government each year through the Crisis and Resilience funding, of which a proportion is allocated to spend on Housing Payments, but there is a limit on the amount we can spend.
If you are not eligible for a Housing Payment, either because they are not entitled to a qualifying benefit or because you are an owner-occupiers or where the Housing Payment allocation has been exhausted, you may be able to access further financial assistance through the Crisis Payment scheme.