Housing Benefit payments
Depending on when your rent is due, you will receive your Housing Benefit award every 4 weeks or monthly.
Weekly rent payers
If your rent is due weekly, you will get your Housing Benefit payments every 4 weeks in arrears. This amount will be 4 times your weekly Housing Benefit award.
Monthly rent payers
If your rent is due monthly, you will get your Housing Benefit payments on the last Monday of the month. We pay in arrears so that payment will cover the days in that month. If Monday is a bank holiday, we will pay you earlier.
When we first award you Housing Benefit, your first payment will normally cover a shorter period. This is to make sure you get your first payment quickly.
Monthly payments will vary based on the length of the month. For example, you will receive slightly lower payments in February (28 or 29 day month) than in January (31 day month).
How we calculate monthly payments
Your weekly housing benefit is:
- Multiplied by 52 weeks.
- Divided by the days in the year (365, or 366 in a leap year).
- Multiplied by the number of days the payment covers.
For example:
Mr Smith's weekly housing benefit is £183.46
His payment for August (a 31 day month) is £810.03. This is how it is worked out:
- £183.46 x 52 weeks = £9,539.92 per year
- £9,539.92 divided by 365 days = £26.13 per day
- £26.13 x 31 days in August = £810.03 per calendar month
Mrs Jones' weekly Housing Benefit is £183.46
Her payment for June (a 30 day month) is £783.90. This is how it is worked out:
- £183.46 x 52 weeks = £9,539.92 per year
- £9,539.92 divided by 365 days = £26.13 per day
- £26.13 x 30 days in June = £783.90 per calendar month