Council Headquarters

These pages offer debt and benefits advice, related to housing. The advice ranges from coping with rent or Council Tax arrears, through assistance in calculating housing benefits, to how and where to pay your Council Tax.
Further advice on these topics is available on the Revenues and Benefits pages, within the Financial Information section of the ELC web site. The advice offered here falls into two categories:


1. East Lothian Council related money issues.

* Council Tax - what it is, how it is calculated, how to pay it and coping with arrears
* Council house rents, payment and arrears advice
* Payment for other Council services

2. Help with debt and other money problems in East Lothian

* Debt advice - where to go for advice
* Housing Benefit and other entitlements
* Paying rent in Private Lets
* Information about East Lothian Council's Welfare Rights team, which provides assistance with a range of benefits issues.

A Housing Benefit calculator is available in the box at the top right hand side of your screen. It can be used to make a rough assessment of likely HB entitlement. However, Housing Benefit assessment is a complex process and the calculator results should always be checked with the Housing Benefits section of East Lothian Council's Finance Department. There are also links to the Department for Work and Pensions page that explain Housing Benefit, and to other benefits and housing-related web sites.

In addition our Getting Advice pages link to websites of other organisations providing specialist help, for particular groups such as the under 21's or the homeless.