This will impact any of our customers who are on a weekly tenancy agreement or licence.

If you are on Housing Benefits (HB, legacy benefits) you will not be impacted by this, as HB will cover this as they pay every week that it is charged.

If you receive Universal Credit, the Department for Work and Pensions will NOT cover the extra week of rent – you will need to pay it.

• Customers on a weekly tenancy or licence will need to pay for 53 weeks (your monthly rent calculation is weekly current rent X 53 weeks ÷ 12 months equals your monthly current rent).

The DWP only pay up to 52 weeks of rent per year and works out the weekly rent for those on Universal Credit by taking the total yearly amount and dividing it by 52 weeks. For example, £10,400 per year / 52 weeks = £200pw rent.

Unfortunately, they have confirmed that they won’t pay for the 53^rd week. This means you will need to pay for the additional week yourself.

To lessen the impact, we recommend you pay a little bit each week over the year.

For example, if you pay £200 a week for your rent, you could divide this by 53 weeks and pay £3.78 a week for 53 weeks.

If you’re not sure what to do, please call us on 01452 833217 or email income@gch.co.uk so we can help you with the options.

• If you pay your rent every four weeks, you will need to multiply your weekly rent by 53 then divide it over 13 payments. E.g £200 weekly rent x 53 = £10,600 / 13 = £815.38 rent payment .every four weeks

If you pay by standing order every four weeks

• You’ll need to change the amount you pay through your bank at the beginning of the new financial year if you want to split the costs of 13 payments.

If you pay by Direct Debit

• We will adjust your payments and let you know how much they will be.

If you pay through MyGCH every four weeks

• You’ll need to change the amount you pay at the beginning of the new financial year by splitting the costs over 13 payments.