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
6 April 2022	14 March 2022 to 11 April 2022
4 May 2022	11 April 2022 to 9 May 2022
1 June 2022	09 May 2022 to 6 June 2022
29 June 2022	6 June 2022 to 4 July 2022
27 July 2022	4 July 2022 to 1 August 2022
24 August 2022	1 August 2022 to 29 August 2022
21 September 2022	29 August 2022 to 26 September 2022
19 October 2022	26 September 2022 to 24 October 2022
16 November 2022	24 October 2022 to 21 November 2022
14 December 2022	21 November 2022 to 19 December 2022
11 January 2023	19 December 2022 to 16 January 2023
8 February 2023	16 January 2023 to 13 February 2023
8 March 2023	13 February 2023 to 13 March 2023

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.