How we process and pay your claim

We'll send you a benefit decision letter by post or email when your claim has been decided. 

How much you get depends on:

• your household income, including benefits and pensions
• savings and investments over £6,000 for those of working age and over £10,000 for those old enough to get state pension
• your circumstances, for example the age of people in the house, or if someone has a disability

If you're a council or housing association tenant how much you get also depends on:

• your eligible rent, which is the maximum amount of rent your housing benefit can cover, can be less than your actual rent and cannot cover service charges, such as water rates
• the number of spare bedrooms you have if you're under pension age

If you rent from a private landlord, how much you get depends on the Local Housing Allowance. The amount of Local Housing Allowance may be lower than your actual rent. 

Housing association tenants

Usually, we'll pay your benefit direct to your landlord every four weeks in arrears. 

If you've asked us to, we can pay your benefit direct to your bank account every two weeks in arrears. This means the two weeks that have just passed.

Private tenants

If you're a private tenant, we pay housing benefit directly into your bank account every two weeks in arrears. The date we pay you might be different to the date your rent is due. 

Its your responsibility to manage your finances and pay your landlord.

Payments direct to landlords

Sometimes we'll pay your benefit direct to the landlord.  

Examples of when we do this include if you're:

• more than eight weeks behind with your rent
• having or have had problems paying your rent