Paying your rent - 2024/25 is a 53-week year 

As your landlord, Newcastle City Council charges your rent weekly. There are 52 weeks in a normal year, which means we issue 52 weekly charges for rent. Every five to six years, there are 53 Mondays in a year instead. 2024/2025 is one of these years. This means 53 weeks rent are charged rather than the usual 52.

How does this affect me?

You may need to make a change to your payments depending on how you pay your rent.

I receive Universal Credit

If you receive Universal Credit, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will not cover the extra week of rent – you will need to pay it. To avoid falling into arrears, you’ll need to pay a little extra each week to make sure your rent is covered.

Why is this?

In order to calculate your Universal Credit award the DWP need to calculate monthly entitlement to housing costs. To do this they multiply weekly rent charge by 52 and divide by 12. Unfortunately, when there are 53 weekly charges in a year, the calculation the DWP uses does not change. If you are charged £100 per week rent over 53 weeks, then you need to pay £5,300 rent in total. Universal Credit will only pay a monthly amount of £433.33 (52 x £100, divided by 12). Over 12 months this means only £5,200 is paid via UC, and there is a shortfall of one week’s rent of £100.

To give you an idea of what you need to pay each week to cover this, you can divide your weekly rent by 53 – so, for example, £100 weekly rent divided by 53 = £1.89. We can help with this though, so don’t worry about calculations – we can talk you through it all.

What do I need to do?

• I receive Universal Credit

To avoid falling into arrears, you’ll need to pay a little extra each week to make sure your rent is covered. Please contact us and we can help to set up a payment arrangement to suit your circumstances.

• I pay monthly by Direct Debit

If you pay by Direct Debit you don’t need to do anything. We’ll do this calculation for you and automatically adjust your payments. We’ll write to you to let you know the new payment amount.

• I pay monthly by standing order

You’ll need to contact your bank to change the amount you pay. Please contact us and we can work out your new rent charge.

• I pay monthly by card

You’ll need to change the amount you pay. Please contact us and we can work out your new rent charge.

• I pay weekly

If you pay weekly, there is no change.  You’ll pay your new weekly rent from 1st April in advance every Monday.  

• I receive housing benefit

You don’t need to do anything if you receive housing benefit as this will be covered.
 

Contact us for help and advice

We know this might seem complicated, so if you have any questions or if you’re not sure what to do, please call us on 0191 278 1232. We can offer advice according to your individual circumstance and help you set up a new payment arrangement if needed. We’re here to help – get in touch today.