Change of https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-the-deductions-from-benefit-scheme-works-a-handbook-for-creditors

Change description : 2026-04-01 00:01:00: Removed references to Income Support from landing page and HTML handbook. [Guidance and regulation]

Showing diff : 2025-04-11 11:07:39.721664964 +00:00..2026-03-31 23:07:36.170822127 +00:00

Guidance

How the deductions from benefit scheme works: guidance for creditors or suppliers

Guidance for current creditors or suppliers, for example, utility suppliers and landlords, on how the deductions from benefit scheme works.

Documents

Third Party Payments enquiry form (Word)

Third Party Payments enquiry form (ODT)

Form to change the name or address of a creditor or supplier (ODS)

Form to change the bank details of a creditor or supplier (Excel)

Form to change the bank details of a creditor or supplier (ODS)

Form to change customer reference numbers (Excel)

Form to change customer reference numbers (ODS)

Details

In certain circumstances, DWP can deduct money from a claimant’s benefit and pay it to a creditor or supplier to clear a debt for:

  • Council Tax
  • fuel costs
  • rent and service charges
  • water charges

The payments are called ‘third party payments’. This guidance is for creditors and suppliers receiving a third party payment. It explains how the scheme works for deductions from:

  • Employment and Support Allowance
  • Income Support
  • Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Pension Credit
  • Universal Credit

How to apply

Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit

Find out how to apply for deductions from Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Pension Credit to clear a debt.

Universal Credit

Find out how to apply for deductions from Universal Credit to clear a debt for:

Updates to this page

Published 1 November 2011
Last updated 111 April 20252026 + show all updates
  1. Updated the forms to change the bank details of a creditor or supplier (Excel and ODS). Also updated the Universal Credit: Third party payments creditor and supplier handbook to remove references to 'tax credits' in the introduction section.

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Update history

2026-04-01 00:01
Removed references to Income Support from landing page and HTML handbook.

2025-04-11 12:07
Updated the forms to change the bank details of a creditor or supplier (Excel and ODS). Also updated the Universal Credit: Third party payments creditor and supplier handbook to remove references to ‘tax credits’ in the introduction section.

2025-02-24 13:00
Updated Form ePRS03 – change customer reference numbers (Excel and ODS). An email address has been corrected.

2024-07-24 07:52
Published updated Excel and open document versions of form ePRS03 to change customer reference numbers. The update is a change to the email address to send details of any money received incorrectly.

2024-05-13 09:34
Updated form to change the name or address of a creditor or supplier – eprs01 (XLX and ODS).

2024-03-05 08:13
In Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Pension Credit: Third party payments creditor and supplier handbook, updated Pensions Service closing time to 6pm.

2024-03-04 00:01
Updated Pension Service opening times in ‘Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Pension Credit: Third party payments creditor and supplier handbook’

2023-08-22 00:15
Updated the Pensions Service telephone opening times in the ‘Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Pension Credit: Third party payments creditor and supplier handbook’ to Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm.

2022-11-08 11:32
Updated the ‘Third Party Payments enquiry form’ (Word and ODT formats). The new version is labelled – version 1.4 and dated 4/11/2022.

2022-04-29 12:10
Updated the ‘Third Party Payments enquiry form’ (both Word and ODT formats). The new version is labelled version 1.3 and dated 28/04/2022.

2022-04-01 12:25
Added information to the following sections: ‘Types of arrears recovered from benefit’ (updated the bullet point about Housing Rent Arrears), ‘Housing cost (APA) payments’ (updated the section and the bullet point about allocating all payments to the correct customer account), ‘Private landlord payment queries’ (added information about the way pay rent arrears are paid to Private Landlords), and ‘Other creditor and supplier payment queries’ (updated the section and the bullet point about Private Landlords).