Discretionary Housing Payments from Your Council

A Discretionary Housing Payment is extra money from your local council to help towards housing costs when your benefit does not cover your rent¹. It is not a loan: you do not have to pay it back². It can cover some or all of the rent that your benefits leave unpaid, a tenancy deposit, rent in advance, moving costs, or rent arrears caused by a shortfall in your benefits³.

The council decides whether to award one, how much you get and how long it lasts, so there is no fixed national amount⁴. It can be a one-off payment or a regular one³. If you get Housing Benefit or Universal Credit but it is not enough to cover your rent, it is worth checking whether you can apply⁵.

One thing has changed. In England, Discretionary Housing Payments have been replaced by a Housing Payment from the Crisis and Resilience Fund, and from 1 April 2026 they are known as CRF Housing Payments¹. The scheme continues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland under the Discretionary Housing Payment name.

What a Discretionary Housing Payment covers

The payment is for housing costs, and the list of what it can meet is wider than many people expect⁶. It can pay some or all of the rent that is not covered by your benefits, a tenancy deposit, rent in advance, and the costs of moving, such as removal costs³. It can also cover rent arrears where those arrears were caused by a shortfall in your benefits³.

The amount you get could cover all or part of your shortfall in rent, or the costs of taking up a tenancy⁷. That second use matters if you are trying to move: a deposit and the first month's rent are often the barrier, and the payment can be put towards both². Where the money is for moving costs, it might be paid direct to a private landlord or a removal company rather than to you³.

There are firm exclusions. You cannot get a Discretionary Housing Payment to pay council tax, and you cannot get one if you are short on rent because you are paying back an overpayment of benefits³. Help with council tax is handled separately through your council's Council Tax Reduction scheme⁸.

If you rent a park home and your benefits do not cover all your rent, you can also apply⁹. The same applies to other less common tenancies where a housing benefit shortfall arises¹⁰.

Who can get one if your benefit does not cover the rent

The core condition is a shortfall: you are getting Housing Benefit or Universal Credit but it is not enough to cover your rent⁵. If you get some Housing Benefit but are having difficulty paying the rest of the rent yourself, you may be able to get a payment to make up the difference¹¹.

In Northern Ireland, private renters who are entitled to the housing element of Universal Credit but whose payment does not cover all their rent can apply¹². Across the UK, private-sector tenants whose Universal Credit or Housing Benefit does not cover the full amount they have to pay their landlord are the group the payment is aimed at¹³.

There is a limit on who counts as renting at all. You cannot get benefits to help with rent if you do not have a proper tenancy and pay rent regularly, which rules out, for example, staying in a family member's home and paying only towards food or bills¹⁴.

Councils also weigh hardship. In Scotland, help is only given if you can show you will be in hardship due to exceptional circumstances, and the council can refuse if the fund has no money left¹⁵. Where the benefit cap is cutting your housing support, your local council may be able to help with a discretionary housing payment if you are facing exceptional hardship, usually for a short time only¹⁶.

In England it is now a CRF Housing Payment

From 1 April 2026, Discretionary Housing Payments in England are included in the Crisis and Resilience Fund and are known as CRF Housing Payments¹⁷. The scheme has been renamed rather than withdrawn: the payment is still an England discretionary payment for people whose benefits do not meet their housing costs¹⁸.

For a reader in England, the practical effect is on the wording you will see. Council pages, application forms and advice services may refer to a Housing Payment, a CRF Housing Payment or a Crisis and Resilience Fund payment rather than a Discretionary Housing Payment¹. If you search for the old name and find nothing, the new name is the one to use.

The change does not alter the fundamentals. It is still a discretionary payment, still decided by your council, still not repayable, and still aimed at housing costs rather than council tax¹. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continue to use the Discretionary Housing Payment name⁶.

How to apply to your council or the Housing Executive

Applications go to your local council, not to the Department for Work and Pensions. In Scotland you apply through your local council, and it helps to tell the council that your benefits are reduced because of under-occupancy charges if that is the reason for the shortfall¹⁹. In Wales you apply to your local council, and you can find it by postcode if you are not sure which authority covers you²⁰. In Northern Ireland the equivalent support is administered through the Housing Executive and the Discretionary Support scheme, which covers short-term living expenses and, in limited circumstances, rent in advance to a landlord other than the Housing Executive²¹.

A short application is usually enough to start with, but the more you can show about the shortfall the better. It helps to set out:

• what housing benefit or Universal Credit housing element you receive, and what your rent actually is
• why the gap exists, for example a bedroom tax deduction, a benefit cap, or a rent increase
• what you have already done, such as looking for cheaper housing or asking your landlord to reduce the rent
• what would happen if the shortfall is not met, including any arrears or risk of losing the home

If you are behind with rent, deal with that alongside the application rather than after it. Free and impartial help is available from MoneyHelper and from debt advice charities, and it is worth contacting your landlord or letting agent early to explain the position⁵.

How much you get and for how long is up to the council

There is no national rate. Your council decides whether to award a payment, how much you will get and for how long⁴. That is what "discretionary" means in practice: two people in similar circumstances in different council areas can receive different amounts, and the same council can treat two applications differently depending on its budget and its local policy.

Payments are usually made for a fixed period rather than indefinitely²². As an illustration of how short they can be, a council might give housing payments for three months to help with a rent increase³. They can be a one-off or a regular payment³.

Funding for the scheme is set annually and has varied over time. In 2021-22, £100 million was made available with a further £40 million reserved for funding based on caseload outcomes²³. In 2020, £180m was provided for councils to make discretionary housing payments to tenants in private and social housing²⁴. These figures are national totals, not amounts any individual can expect.

Because the money is limited, timing matters. A council can refuse if the fund has no money left¹⁵, and councils receive new funding for these payments every financial year, so a refusal this year does not prevent a fresh application in the next²².

Will the council renew my payment automatically when it ends?

No. The council will not automatically renew your payments or remind you when they end³. If you still need the help after the award period finishes, you have to apply again³.

That makes the end date of any award worth diarising. If your payment runs for three months, the time to start a fresh application is before it stops, not after the next rent payment is missed. Because councils receive new funding each financial year, an application refused late in one year can be worth repeating in the next²².

Asking for a review when you are refused or awarded too little

You have no right to appeal a refusal of a Discretionary Housing Payment, but you can ask your local authority to review its decision²⁵. You can ask for a review if you have been refused, if you are not happy with the amount awarded, or if you are not happy with how long the payment lasts²⁶. Each council has its own review process, so the route and the deadline come from the council that decided your case⁶.

In Northern Ireland, the equivalent route is a review by the Housing Executive²⁶. In Wales, where the payment is refused, the decision can be challenged through the council's own review process²².

A review is not the same as an appeal to a tribunal, and the ordinary benefits appeal system does not apply to these payments. If you are challenging a decision about the benefit itself, such as a Housing Benefit overpayment, that is a separate process with its own appeal rights²⁷. For the discretionary payment, the review is internal to the council.

If a review does not resolve matters, free advice is available. Shelter and Citizens Advice can help you put a case together, and MoneyHelper offers free, impartial guidance on rent arrears and what to do next⁵.