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Understanding Water Direct
Water Direct is a government scheme which allows you to make payments for essential services direct from your benefits.
You may find it easier to manage your finances by having bill payments taken from your benefits payment automatically.
The Water Direct scheme gives you peace of mind, knowing that your water bill is taken care of and you can use the money in your account for something other than paying bills.
If you’re eligible for the Water Direct scheme and your application to the scheme is successful, the Department of Work and Pensions will deduct an amount from your benefits payment and use that to credit your Severn Trent account.
Eligibility for Water Direct
You can apply for Water Direct if you, or anyone in your household, gets any of the following State benefits:
- Income Support
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Employment Support Allowance
- Universal Credit
- Pension Credit
You must also owe at least £50 on your Severn Trent account.
The amount taken from your benefits payment
The amount deducted for Water Direct is set by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and is calculated according to your individual circumstances.
The DWP will take a small fixed amount towards your debt, regardless of how much you owe, and some extra towards your current charges.
The amount you pay through Water Direct is usually lower than a payment plan we can offer you. It will cover the current year's charges, plus £3.75 per week towards any outstanding amount.
This is the lowest payment we can accept towards any account balance.
We won’t take action to reclaim any debt
If you have an outstanding amount on your account, we will not take any action to recover that amount as long as you’re on the Water Direct scheme.
Help if you’re struggling to pay your water bill
We have several financial support plans that could help you to lower your bill amount, or pay in more affordable amounts.
Applying for Water Direct
If you’re eligible and you want to apply to pay your bill through Water Direct, we will send your Water Direct application to your local Department for Work and Pensions office straight away.
It usually takes up to four weeks to process your application.
We will write to you once we know the outcome of your application.
We won't take any action to collect your outstanding debt while your application is being processed.
Continue to pay while your application is assessed
It's important you continue making payments while your application is being assessed, in case your application is not successful.
Change in your circumstances
If your circumstances change and you're no longer eligible for Water Direct, the Department for Work and Pensions may cancel the arrangement to pay from you benefits.
You will be notified if this happens.
If you’re declared insolvent
If you continue to pay us after being declared insolvent, we will transfer any payments you have made since the date of your insolvency to your new account.
Any transferred payments will be credited against charges from the day after the date of your insolvency.
We'll contact your local Department for Work and Pensions Office and give them your new account number so the payments can continue.
