Safeguards

What safeguards are there?

Local Housing Allowance is mainly paid to claimants direct. The provision in Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 for claimants to choose to have their allowance paid direct to their landlord has been removed. As a result most claimants will have their LHA paid directly into their bank account and will therefore be responsible for managing their own finances and paying their own rent.

In recognition that some claimants may have difficulty with the responsibility of budgeting for, and paying their rent, a system of safeguarding has been put into place.

Being safeguarded means that a decision is made to make payments to the landlord, not the claimant.

Information on when we may pay benefit direct to landlords is detailed in our Safeguard Policy (PDF)

For us to make payments direct to the landlord, a direct payment form must be completed.

Back to top