Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI): a loan against your home, not a benefit
This scheme is open.
Available across the whole of the UK.
Support for Mortgage Interest is not a benefit and it is not free help with your mortgage. It is a loan, secured against your home, that pays some of the interest on your mortgage while you claim a qualifying benefit. You do not keep this money for nothing: it is added up as a debt against your property and has to be repaid, with interest of its own, when you sell or transfer ownership.
“It's paid as a loan, which you'll need to repay with interest when you sell or transfer ownership of your home. Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) usually helps pay the interest on up to GBP 200,000 of your loan or mortgage. The interest rate used to calculate the amount of SMI you'll get is currently 3.66%. The current rate is 4.5%.”
A loan secured against your home
SMI only helps with the interest on a mortgage or qualifying home-improvement loan for the property you actually live in. It cannot help with your mortgage arrears if you have missed payments, and it cannot help with insurance policies. It does not pay down the amount you borrowed from your mortgage lender in the first place.
“You could speak to your mortgage lender before you apply for SMI. Some lenders can offer other ways to help, such as temporary payment holidays, interest-only payments or extending your mortgage term to reduce monthly payments.”
That is GOV.UK’s own suggestion, not financial advice from this site — your lender is the one who can tell you what alternatives it offers, and whether any of them suit your situation better than taking on a further secured debt.
How much of your mortgage is covered
SMI does not cover your whole mortgage. It helps with the interest on a capped amount of your outstanding loan, and the cap is lower for some claimants.
| SMI capital limit (standard) | £200,000 |
|---|---|
| SMI capital limit for Pension Credit claimants | £100,000 |
“You can only get up to GBP 100,000 if either: you're getting Pension Credit, you started claiming another qualifying benefit before January 2009 and you were below State Pension age at that time.”
The lower limit applies if you are getting Pension Credit, or if you started claiming another qualifying benefit before January 2009 while you were under State Pension age. If you are already getting SMI and move onto Pension Credit within 12 weeks of your other benefit stopping, you keep help with interest on the higher amount.
There are two different interest rates, not one
A common source of confusion is that SMI involves two separate rates. One is used by DWP to calculate how much interest it pays towards your mortgage each month — GOV.UK states the current figure for that rate above, alongside the verified summary of this scheme. Reading that page alongside GOV.UK’s separate page on repaying the loan (quoted below) shows a second figure, currently different from the calculation rate, applied once you come to repay it.
“The interest you pay can go up or down, but the rate will not change more than twice a year. The current rate is 4.5%. You'll be told if this is going to change.”
That repayment rate is reviewed at most twice a year, and DWP will tell you if it changes. Because both rates can move independently of each other, do not assume the figure used to calculate your monthly help is the same one you will be charged when the loan is eventually repaid.
Eligibility and the waiting period
To be eligible you must have a mortgage or home-improvement loan on the property you live in, and be getting one of income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit, or Pension Credit. There is no credit check — SMI is assessed against your benefit claim, not your credit history.
- Pension Credit: payments can start from the date your Pension Credit starts.
- Universal Credit: payments can start once you have had Universal Credit for 3 months in a row (or 3 months in total, if you moved to it within a month of another qualifying benefit ending).
- Income-related ESA: payments can start once you have claimed for 39 weeks in a row.
There is no guarantee of an SMI award for a mortgage or loan you take out — the waiting period and the benefit conditions have to be met first, and your claim is assessed rather than automatic.
How to apply
- Apply for the qualifying benefit first — Universal Credit, Pension Credit or income-related ESA. You will be asked extra questions about your housing costs as part of that claim.
- Fill in and sign the SMI form when asked, then send it to your mortgage lender to complete their part.
- Your lender returns the completed form to the office that pays your benefit, which decides whether to offer you a loan.
- You can accept or turn down the offer. If you turn it down at first, you can still accept later, and payments to your lender can be backdated to when you first became entitled.
There is no fee to apply. If you already get a qualifying benefit and think you might be eligible, contact the office that pays that benefit directly rather than waiting to be asked.
What happens when you repay it
“You will not be asked to sell your home in order to repay your SMI loan.”
The loan becomes due as a lump sum, with interest, when you sell your home or transfer ownership of it — not before. If you sell, the SMI loan is repaid from what is left after your mortgage and any earlier secured loans are paid off. If there is not enough left to cover the whole SMI debt, you repay what you can and the remainder is written off, rather than being chased separately.
If you die while you still owe the loan, a partner who lived with you and inherits the home can usually take on the loan rather than repay it immediately, with interest continuing to accrue until they do. Anyone else who inherits the home — a partner who did not live with you, a child, or anyone else — has to repay the loan straight away, normally by selling the property or using other money left to them.
You can also make voluntary repayments at any time to reduce or clear the loan sooner, and if you move to a new home you may be able to transfer the loan rather than repay it, as long as you contact DWP before your sale completes.
Common questions
Is Support for Mortgage Interest a benefit?
No. SMI is a loan secured against your home. It is paid because you are getting a qualifying benefit, but it is not itself a benefit — you have to repay it, with interest, when you sell or transfer ownership of the property.
How much of my mortgage does SMI cover?
SMI helps with the interest on a capped amount of your outstanding mortgage or home-improvement loan. The cap is lower if you are getting Pension Credit, or if you started claiming a qualifying benefit before January 2009 while under State Pension age.
Is the SMI interest rate the same as my mortgage rate?
No. SMI uses its own rate, set separately from whatever your mortgage lender charges you. GOV.UK also publishes a separate figure, on its page about repaying the loan, that applies once you come to repay the SMI loan itself and is currently different from the calculation rate; that figure is reviewed at most twice a year.
Will I have to sell my home to repay SMI?
No. GOV.UK is explicit that you will not be asked to sell your home to repay the loan. It becomes due when you choose to sell or transfer ownership, or in some circumstances when you die.
Do I need a mortgage broker or adviser to apply for SMI?
No. You apply through the qualifying benefit you already claim — Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or income-related ESA — and there is no fee and no credit check.
What if I cannot repay the full SMI loan when I sell my home?
If there is not enough left after your mortgage and other secured loans are paid off, you repay what you can from the sale and the remaining SMI debt is written off.
Related guides
- Budgeting Advance: the Universal Credit loan you pay back
- Budgeting Loan: the interest-free loan for people on legacy benefits
- Council Tax Reduction: how much you could get off your bill
- Breathing Space: temporary protection from your creditors
- Disabled Facilities Grant: help from your council to adapt your home
Information on this page was checked against the official guidance on 25 August 2026. The source page was last updated on 22 November 2024.
This is general information, not financial or legal advice. Money Decisions UK is not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and does not arrange, recommend or introduce any credit, debt or mortgage product.