Help with a mortgage


You may be eligible for help with mortgage interest payments. Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, or Pension Credit can include an amount for mortgage interest payments called Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). You must be getting one of the following benefits to qualify for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI):


• Income Support;


• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance; 


• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance; or 


• Pension Credit.


It is only available for paying the interest on up to £200,000 of a loan or mortgage (or £100,000 if you get Pension Credit), and there is a 39-week waiting period. As of April 2018. SMI will shift from benefit grant status to a loan system. 


Mortgage Interest Run On is extra money towards your housing costs if certain other benefits are stopping because you are:


• returning to work full-time;


• working more hours; or


• earning more money.


You can get this help for four weeks, but only if you have been claiming the benefit continuously for at least 26 weeks; you expect the work (or more money) to last for five weeks or more; and you were entitled to help with your housing costs before your work started and you’ll still have these costs when you start work.


Further information can be found at: www.gov.uk/support-for-mortgage-interest.