What are discretionary housing payments?
If you make a claim for housing benefit and council tax benefit, you may not be able to get full help towards paying your rent and council tax. In these circumstances, the council may be able to award you a discretionary housing payment to give you further help. These payments are separate from those for housing benefit and council tax benefit, but you must be entitled to at lease one of those benefits to be considered.
How do I apply for a discretionary housing payment award?
To be considered for an award of discretionary housing payments, you will need to complete and return a request form (available from the Benefits Service). You can complete this form online if you wish - please follow the link on this page.
What will I need to tell you?
When you complete your request form (or write your letter), you will need to tell us:
- Why you think you should get an additional payment towards your rent / council tax payments.
- Details of any special circumstances you think we should be aware of
- Details of any action you have taken to help yourself
- Details of anything else you think may help us to make a decision
- Details of all the money you have coming into your household
- Details of all the money you pay out each week (for example your gas bill or electric bill)
You should tell us as much as you can so that we fully understand your situation.
When you have completed your request and sent it to us with your evidence, we will look at your circumstances to make a decision.
How will you make a decision on whether I am eligible to receive discretionary housing payments?
We will look at all requests for discretionary housing payments.
There is no list of circumstances which would entitle you automatically to qualify for discretionary housing payments. We will look at each request on its own merits, but you will need to be able to show that you cannot pay the shortfall in your rent or council tax yourself. Wherever it is possible and reasonable to do so, you will be expected to take steps to improve your own circumstances.
Can discretionary housing payments cover all costs?
Discretionary housing payments cannot be awarded to pay for any of the following:
- Ineligible service or support charges
- Any rent you have to pay if you only qualify for council tax benefit
- Any council tax you have to pay if you only qualify for housing benefit or second adult rebate
- Increases in your rent due to rent arrears
- Reductions in any benefit as a result of you failing to co-operate with the Child Support Agency, failing to participate in a work focused interview or for misconduct where the Department for Work and Pensions has reduced payments of Jobseekers allowance
How much money can I get?
An award of discretionary housing payment will be different for everyone depending on their circumstances.
The money we get to award discretionary housing payments comes directly from the government, and is strictly limited each year. Each award of discretionary housing payment will be for a limited time only, usually six months at the most, after which time the award will end.
If you are given an award of discretionary housing payment and we later find out you should not have been entitled to it, we will ask you to pay the money back to us.
What if you turn my request down?
You have no appeal against any decisions we make about awarding discretionary housing payments. However, if you write to us within a month of the date we notified you of our decision, we will look at it again for you.
If you want to apply for discretionary housing payments online, please follow the link on this page.
If you need more information on discretionary housing payments, please contact the Benefits Service.