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Other housing costs

 
Housing Benefit does not cover services (such as personal laundry and cleaning), except for the following services if they are included in the rent:

  • communal laundry facilities
  • furniture and household equipment
  • cleaning of communal areas such as hallways and thoroughfares
  • services connected with provision of adequate accommodation, such as general management costs, lifts, gardens and rubbish removal.

Services not eligible for benefit

Some tenants pay for water, gas, electricity, heating and meals as part of their rent. These services are no longer covered by Housing Benefit.

Support charges

Claimants who have support charges included in their rent, such as emergency alarms, now need to apply for a Supporting People grant to pay for these charges. The Council will pay the grant directly to the organisation that provides your support.

To find out more, contact the Supporting People team.

Discretionary housing payments

In certain circumstances you may be entitled to a discretionary housing payment if the benefit you receive is less than your eligible rent or Council Tax liability.

What is a discretionary housing payment?

Discretionary housing payments are paid from a limited amount of money that central Government gives to the Council every year. The Council can pay it to people with special financial or personal circumstances which indicate that they need extra help to pay their rent and Council Tax.

Who can claim discretionary housing payments?

You can claim discretionary housing payments:

  • if you receive housing benefit and your benefit does not cover all of the eligible rent 
  • if you receive Council Tax benefit and your benefit does not cover all of the eligible Council Tax.

How much help can I get?

It depends on your circumstances. There are no set rules about how much to give people. It will usually only be paid if you have special financial or personal circumstances. The extra money would help to improve these circumstances.

We cannot pay you more than your eligible rent costs or your Council Tax liability. Some people may not get any extra help at all.

Because discretionary housing payments are made from limited funds we cannot pay every person who has a low income, otherwise the money available would run out very quickly.  This is why we only make payments if you have special financial or personal circumstances.  

We cannot guarantee that we can pay anyone for an indefinite period. If the funds run out the payment will stop. 

Is there anything that discretionary housing payments cannot cover?

We cannot give you discretionary housing payments to cover:

  • some charges that may be included in your rent that you could not get Housing Benefit for, such as gas and electricity, water rates, meals or service charges.
  • any shortfall in your Housing Benefit because you are paying back an overpayment.

How do I apply?

You can either phone our call centre on 020 8921 4900 and ask for an application form, or pick one up from our customer contact centres:

The Riverside Centre
Riverside House East
Woolwich High Street
London
SE18 6BU
Open from 9.00am- 5.00pm Monday to Thursday and Friday 9.00am - 4.30pm.
 
The Eltham Centre
2 Archery Road
Eltham
London
SE9 1HA. 
Open from 8am - 10pm Monday to Friday and 9-5pm Saturday and Sunday.

When you apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment

Please give us as much detail as you can in order for us to consider your application for a discretionary housing payment as quickly as possible. 

You should provide any documentary evidence which you feel may be relevant to your application – original documents will be required which we will return to you. 

Failure to provide proof to support your claim within a reasonable time period could result in loss of payment.

You may be asked to provide additional information in order to support your claim.  We will contact you if this is required.

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