Housing benefit payments

How and when payment is made

Payment will usually be made straight into a bank or building society account on a Wednesday evening and should be in the account on the following Monday. Housing benefit is paid every 4 weeks, in arrears.

Payment schedule

The table below shows the dates that housing benefit payments are due

Date payment sent	Period the benefit covers
7 April 2021	15 March 2021 to 12 April 2021
5 May 2021	12 April 2021 to 10 May 2021
2 June 2021	10 May 2021 to 7 June 2021
30 June 2021	7 June 2021 to 5 July 2021
28 July 2021	5 July 2021 to 2 August 2021
25 August 2021	2 August 2021 to 30 August 2021
22 September 2021	30 August 2021 to 27 September 2021
20 October 2021	27 September 2021 to 25 October 2021
17 November 2021	25 October 2021 to 22 November 2021
15 December 2021	22 November 2021 to 20 December 2021
12 January 2022	20 December 2021 to 17 January 2022
9 February 2022	17 January 2022 to 14 February 2022
9 March 2022	14 February 2022 to 14 March 2022

Council Tax support

If you are entitled to Council Tax support, then your entitlement will be credited to your Council Tax bill for the relevant financial year.

Housing association tenant payments

Housing benefit payments can be paid to you or direct to your landlord.

Private tenant payments

In most cases, you will receive the payment and you will have to make arrangements to pay rent to the landlord yourself.

Payments direct to landlord

In exceptional circumstances, we may decide to make payments to your landlord, but this will only happen if there are compelling reasons for us to do so such as:

if you have rent arrears, in most cases 8 weeks or more rent
if you are unlikely to pay your rent
if you are likely to have difficulty managing your finances.

If we decide to make payments to your landlord, this can be reviewed at a later date and the decision may change.

Payment schedules for landlords

If you are a landlord, you can view your payment schedules online by registering for a Council Tax online (e-citizen) account.