Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support
Discretionary Housing Payments
Discretionary Housing Payments are payments that we may be able to make to give you further assistance towards your rent.
To be eligible for Discretionary Housing Payments you must be in receipt of Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit for the period that you wish to claim Discretionary Hardship Payments.
Other than the eligibility outlined above, there are no qualifying criteria as such: payments are made at the discretion of the Council. Each application will be considered on its own merits and we will decide if a payment can be made and if it can, how much will be paid and how long it will be paid.
Please note that payments are made from a limited fund, therefore if there are no funds available e.g. at the end of the financial year a Discretionary Hardship Payment will not be paid.
Payments are usually awarded for a fixed period of time, once the award period has ended a new application must be made for a new period.
Payments can be made directly to the claimant or landlord.
As these payments are made at the Local Authority’s discretion, there is no formal right of appeal to the Tribunal Service against a decision on a claim, but we have our own internal review process and you can write to us to request that the decision is looked at again.
To apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment, please complete an application form.