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Housing Benefit for local authorities: subsidy circulars

Subsidy (S) circulars are about the money the government pays local authorities to administer Housing Benefit and other financial matters.

Housing Benefit subsidy (S) circulars give information about:

  • the money the government pays local authorities in the form of a subsidy to administer Housing Benefit
  • other financial matters for local authority staff

The circulars make many references to Council Tax Benefit as this was administered by local authorities alongside Housing Benefit until March 2013. In April 2013 Council Tax Benefit was replaced by local authorities’ own council tax support and reduction schemes, removing DWP’s involvement. Readers will need to consider references to Council Tax Benefit in these documents accordingly.

For enquiries about the distribution of circulars, email lawelfare.correspondence@dwp.gov.uk.

Other information for local authorities about Housing Benefit

We also publish:

Subsidy circulars

Find HB subsidy circulars before 2011 on the National Archives website.