Response times for Housing Benefit
From Wednesday 1 April 2026, Discretionary Housing Payments will be renamed to Housing Payments to follow upcoming guidance changes made by the Department for Works of Pensions regarding crisis payments. This will have no effect on anyone currently receiving or wishing to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment. If there are any changes to the application process, this page will be updated in due course.
Standard response times
| Emails received from our call centre | We aim to reply within 5 working days |
|---|---|
| Service requests | We aim to call back within 5 working days |
| New claim | We aim to process fully evidenced claims within an average of 28 working days |
| Changes in circumstances | We aim to process changes within an average of 18 working days |
| Discretionary Housing Payment | We aim to assess these within an average of 28 working days |
| Reviews | We aim to assess reviews within an average of 14 working days |
| Complaints | We aim to acknowledge and record your complaint within 5 working days of receipt |