This year (April 2024 – March 2025) is a bit different because it includes 53 weeks instead of the usual 52. This means there's an extra week of rent to think about.
Who’s affected:
- Rent payers (without Housing Benefit): Your weekly/ fortnightly/ 4 weekly / monthly rent payments will need to be adjusted slightly to cover the extra week.
- Universal credit recipients: Unfortunately, Universal Credit won’t cover the extra week, so you’ll need to make this payment yourself.
Who’s not affected:
- Housing Benefit Recipients: If you’re on Housing Benefit, you’re all set—your rent is already covered every week.
What you can do:
- We suggest spreading the cost of the extra week across your rent payments for the rest of the remaining financial year, which ends at the end of March.
- Example: If your weekly rent is £200, you could increase your payment by £6.90 each week for the remaining 29 weeks.
Confused by what you need to pay extra?
Please contact your Income Coach by phoning the office on 0800 024 8968 or by emailing income.coach@hafod.org.uk.
How to adjust your payments:
Standing Order: You can update the payment amount with your bank, generally via your mobile banking app.
Direct Debit: Our colleagues will be working to amend direct debits over the coming weeks. You will receive a notification of the change from Allpay via post. If the increase is unaffordable or you need to discuss this further, please get in contact.
We’re here to help!