How you receive help with your rent
If you are eligible for Housing Benefit, we will pay your Housing Benefit every two weeks and the payments will be two weeks in arrears.
If you have chosen for your payments to be paid directly to your landlord or you are a landlord receiving Housing Benefit directly from us for one of your tenants, this will be paid every four weeks and the payments will be made four weekly in arrears
We pay in arrears because if you have a change in your circumstances which results in a change in your entitlement, this ensures that overpayments are kept to a minimum.
Payments are only made by bank transfer/BACS.
View our rent payments guide for 2023/24
Bank holiday payments
In cases where you are expected to receive your payment on a bank holiday, you will receive the payment early.
View our guidance for Housing Benefit payment dates over bank holidays 2022/23
View your payments online
Managing your account online is much easier to access your information quickly and means you do not have to wait in a telephone queue or wait for a response to an email for questions about your payments.
If you are claiming Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction, you can see when your next payment is due and how much, along with all the previous payments that have been made towards your rent and/or your Council Tax.
You can also see what income we are basing your claim on and much more - this helps you to check that the information we hold about you is always up to date. Registration is quick and easy but if you need help registering, you can email us at selfservice@herefordshire.gov.uk (please note we can only respond to online registration queries via this email).