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Discretionary Housing Payments are extra payments made to top-up your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both). They are paid as well as your normal benefit entitlement. As Discretionary Housing Payments are not payments of benefit, we are able to decide who to give this extra help to, and how much to give.
Anyone who is struggling to pay the top up of their rent or Council Tax. You can only apply for extra help if you already have a claim in pay for the relevant benefit. There are no set circumstances, but you will need to prove to us that you are in need of further help.
We are given a limited amount of money by the Government to make these extra payments, so we have to be very careful how we award it. Once this money has been used up we will not be able to give extra payments, however good your reasons are.
The amount of Discretionary Housing Payment you get, and length of time it is given to you, is decided by us. It is normally paid on a temporary basis and can start and stop at any time during your claim, and may be backdated.
The amount that we pay you, when added to your Housing Benefit, cannot be more than your full rent less any services that benefit will not cover. Any amount paid when added to your Council Tax Benefit, can not be more than the total Council Tax charged for your home.
After you fill in and return this form to us, we contact you to discuss your application, then write to you with our decision.
If you are unhappy with our decision you can appeal against it. Your appeal must be in writing, and must be received by us within one month of the date of the letter we sent you telling you of our decision. You must give us the reasons why you are unhappy with our decision.
A Senior Officer will then look at your appeal, and we will write to you again telling you of our decision.
Tel: 01843 577552
from 9am to 5.30pm.
Fax: 01843 577532
or Visit our offices