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The evidence you need to provide when you make a claim for benefit.
If you are having difficulty meeting your housing costs or Council Tax bill, the Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) scheme may be able to help.
You must be in receipt of Housing Benefit or getting help with your housing costs through Universal Credit to receive a DHP.
The DHP Scheme allows us to top up your housing-related benefit for a limited time to cover housing costs like rent, deposits and removals. Payment may be made on a regular basis or as a one-off payment, depending on the reason for your claim.
When you apply, you’ll be expected to show that you:
Read the full details of our scheme in the Waltham Forest Discretionary Housing Payment and Discretionary Council Tax Hardship Scheme (PDF file).
The most we can pay is the difference between your housing-related benefit and your rent.
It is unlikely that any award will cover the entire shortfall. We expect people who are awarded a DHP to pay at least £10 a week towards the difference between their housing costs and their total benefit entitlement.
Regular payments are generally paid to your landlord. One-off payments will be paid to your landlord or your landlord's agent. If we help you with removal costs we’ll seek to pay the removal company directly.
It’s important that you provide as much information as possible when you make your claim as this can affect how much we can award you.
You’ll need to tell us:
You’ll also need to:
If you don’t agree with our decision you can:
You can no longer claim a DHP for help with your Council Tax although you may be able to claim a discretionary reduction.
Please see Council tax discounts, exemptions and reductions for more details.
London Borough of Waltham Forest
PO Box 856
London
E17 9PN