We pay Housing Benefit (HB) directly to a bank account by BACS Direct Credit.
Why we pay by BACS Direct Credit
Payment by BACS Direct Credit is:
- more secure – cheques are physical documents that can be lost or stolen
- faster – payment is straight to your account, no more waiting for the post or for payments to clear
- more convenient – payments are made into your bank account even if you are busy, unwell or on holiday
- cheaper – you can save on commission if you currently use a money shop to cash your cheques.
Please see our See our Paying benefits page for more information about who will will pay HB to.
Tell us about a bank account
To tell us about a:
- bank account to receive HB or
- a change to an account receiving HB.
Please fill in our Bank account details for HB payments form to receive HB payments directly to a bank account.
If you do not have a bank account
Landlords
If you are a landlord and we have agreed to pay you directly, we expect to pay you directly to a bank account. We will not pay by cheque. If you do not have a bank account we will refuse the request to pay you directly and pay your tenant.
Tenants
If you are a tenant, we will expect you to apply for a basic bank account and let us know the details of the account when it is set up. We can help you apply for a bank account. For more information about this see our basic bank account page.
You should nominate a bank account of a trusted party (such as a friend or relative) to receive HB payments whilst you are waiting for a bank account to be set up.
NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure the Housing Benefit paid into a nominated account is made available to you to pay your rent. The Council are not responsible for ensuring the account is suitable or for resolving issues with the account holder. If the person who holds the account refuses to give you access we will not re-issue the HB again.