This year’s rent: One extra week to cover
This year (April 2024 – April 2025) has 53 weeks instead of the usual 52. This means there’s an extra week of rent to pay.
Who this affects:
- People who pay rent monthly and don’t receive Housing Benefit: Your monthly rent payment will need to be slightly higher to cover the extra week.
- People who receive Universal Credit: Unfortunately, Universal Credit won’t cover the extra week. You’ll need to pay for it yourself.
Who is NOT affected:
- People who receive Housing Benefit will not be affected as Housing Benefit covers your rent every week.
What to do:
- We recommend slightly increasing your rent payments throughout the year to cover the extra week.
- For example, if your rent is £200 a week, you could increase it by £3.78 per week for 53 weeks.
I pay my rent every four weeks. What do I need to do?
- To spread the cost evenly, you can calculate a new payment amount by multiplying your weekly rent by 53 and then dividing it by 13.
For example:
- If your weekly rent is £200, then (53 weeks x £200) = £10,600.
- You will then need to divide this by 13 payments.
- In this example £10,600 / 13 = £815.38.
- So, in this example, you will need to pay £815.38 every four weeks.
How to pay:
- If you use a standing order, you can update the amount with your bank at the beginning of the new financial year to reflect the new payment amount.
- If you pay by Direct Debit, we may have already contacted you to adjust the amount automatically. If not, please get in touch with us to discuss updating your Direct Debit.
If you need more help:
If you are not sure what you need to do or you are worried about your rent payments, please contact your Money Solutions Officer or email money@ccha.org.uk. We will be more than happy to support and assist you.