Council services – opening times over the festive season 2024

Over the Christmas period, the call centre will be closed from 12 noon on Tuesday 24 December and will reopen on Friday 27 December. The Call Centre will also be closed on New Year’s Day.   

When open, the call centre lines normally operate during these hours:  

• Mondays 8.30am - 5pm 
• Tuesdays 8.30am - 5pm 
• Wednesdays 9am - 5pm 
• Thursdays 8.30am - 5pm 
• Fridays 8.30am - 4.30pm 

The following lines will be closed on Friday 27, Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 December. These lines will all reopen on Thursday 2 January.   

• Allotments 
• Blue badge 
• Clinical Waste 
• Elections 
• Environmental Health 
• Housing allocations 
• Pest Control 
• School admissions 
• Smartcities 
• Special collection 
• Trading standards 

On Tuesday 24 December, we will be open from 10am to 12noon. We will be closed from Wednesday 25 December 2024 to 5 January 2025, and open again on Monday 6 January 2025 from 10am-3pm. You can access our services constantly by using the relevant online form.  

For emergencies outside of normal office hours, please call 023 8023 3344. For adult social care outside of normal office hours, please call 0300 555 1373.  

Gateway is located at the Civic Centre, Civic Centre Road, Southampton, SO14 7LY.  

General waste and recycling collections will be unchanged until Wednesday 25 December. Our crews will be taking a much-deserved break over the festive season and there will be no collections on:

• Wednesday 25 December
• Thursday 26 December
• Wednesday 1 January

Please do not place your bins for collection on the above dates.

If your general waste collection should have been on Wednesday 25 or Thursday 26 December, put your general waste bin out before 6.30am on Friday 27 December and leave out until collected. Catch up crews are aiming to collect general waste only on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 December, and early the following week.

If your recycling bin should have been collected on Wednesday 25 or Thursday 26 December, do not put your recycling bin out until your next scheduled recycling date of Wednesday 8 or Thursday 9 January.

The catch-up crews will be prioritising collection of general waste only throughout the festive season.

For up-to-date information on collections and any changes, access our Bin Collection Calendar.

Garden waste collections will be suspended the week commencing Monday 23 December 2024 and will start again on Monday 6 January 2025 

Requests for larger bins will not be processed between Monday 23 December 2024 and Monday 6 January 2025.

Southampton HWRC is open seven days a week, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day when the site is closed. Between 1 October to 28 February Southampton HWRC is open 9am to 4pm, but it is closed from 12.30pm to 1pm each day.

Book your visit here.

There will be no city-wide real Christmas tree collection in 2024.

If you are subscribed to our Garden Waste collection service, you can put your real Christmas tree out for collection on your next scheduled garden waste collection day, with your bin.

Trees over 1.8 metres (6 foot) tall should be cut into smaller pieces so that they can be safety lifted by one person. Please remove all decorations and lights.

Our Garden Waste service will be suspended from Wednesday 25 December 2024 and restart on Wednesday 8 January 2025.

Non–garden waste subscribers are asked to take any real trees to the Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC). Please note that bookings are required for visits to all Hampshire HWRCs.

Real trees should not be put in the general waste bin, as the bin will be rejected as contaminated.

Council-led libraries will operate as per the schedule below: 

• Early closure at 5pm on Monday 23 December 2024 
• Closed on Tuesday 24 December 2024 (Christmas Eve) 
• Closed on Wednesday 25 December 2024 (Christmas Day) 
• Closed on Thursday 26 December 2024 (Boxing Day) 
• Open as usual on Friday 27 December 2024 
• Open as usual on Saturday 28 December 2024 
• Early closure at 5pm on Monday 30 December 2024 
• Early closure at 2pm on Tuesday 31 December 2024 (New Year's Eve) 
• Closed on Wednesday 1 January 2025 (New Year's Day) 
• Open as usual on Thursday 2 January 2025 

Our community-led libraries: Burgess Road, Cobbett Hub, Millbrook, Thornhill and YMCA Weston will be closed throughout the festive period. Please check our website or locally with these libraries for more details. 

Archives will also be closed throughout the festive period, last opening on Wednesday 18 December 2024 and reopening on Thursday 2 January 2025.  

Our Digital Library will continue to offer newspapers, magazines, eBooks and eAudiobooks as well as many other useful resources even when we're closed! 

• SeaCity Museum will be closed Tuesday 24 - Thursday 26 December (inclusive), and on Wednesday 1 January 2024
• Southampton City Art Gallery will be closed Tuesday 24 December - Wednesday 1 January (inclusive), reopening Thursday 2 January 2024
• Tudor House and Garden will be closed Tuesday 24 December – Friday 27 December (inclusive), Tuesday 31 December and Wednesday 1 January.

Opening hours are by appointment only.

• We close to the public at 12:15 Christmas Eve, Tuesday 24 - Thursday 26 December (inclusive) and Wednesday 1 January.
• Friday 27 December 2024 – appointments offered between 9am and 3.30pm.
• Saturday 28 December will be weddings only.
• Monday 30 December and Tuesday 31 December appointments offered usual opening hours.
• Normal hours resume Thursday 2 January

To book a birth or death appointment, please book online by visiting register a birth or register a death. For any death enquiries, please email deathregistrations@southampton.gov.uk, or for any other query, please email registrars@southampton.gov.uk.

Housing Benefit payments for Christmas and New Year 2023

Housing Benefit payments for the 2024 Christmas and 2025 New Year period are detailed below. If you receive your payment by cheque, please allow extra time for any postal delays.

Normal payment cycle will resume week commencing Monday 30 December 2024.

Weekly payments

Payments sent Friday 19 December 2024 will arrive in accounts by Monday 23 December 2023.

Fortnightly payments

There are no fortnightly payment runs over Christmas.

Monthly payments

No monthly payment run is due.

Urgent payments

No urgent payment runs over Christmas.

Council tenant payments

These will run as normal and show in accounts by Monday 23 and Monday 30 December 2024.

Local Housing Offices are closed for Christmas from midday on Tuesday 24 December 2024 until Friday 27 December 2024. Offices are also closed on New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January 2025. Normal hours will resume from Thursday 2 January 2024.

If you need to contact us while we are closed you can report repairs online, or call our out of hours service on 023 8023 3344.

From November through to the end of March we provide the winter maintenance service for the city. This includes pre-salting to help prevent ice forming and post-salting to melt ice and snow that has already formed. Priority one routes are treated as routine pre-salting, in advance of any forecast of frost, ice or snow.

We monitor daily weather forecasts and road conditions to enable us to decide when precautionary salting or other treatment is required and can react quickly to extreme weather conditions. Find out more on our gritting pages about road gritting and requesting a gritting bin to be re-filled.

For up to date information follow our highways service on X (formerly Twitter) at @scchighways.

We will be closed from 12pm on Tuesday 24 December, all day on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 December and Wednesday 1 January.

The Southampton Municipal Golf Course is fully closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. 

The golf shop will be open the rest of the time from 7.30am until 4pm.

Local Housing Offices are closed for Christmas from midday on Tuesday 24 December 2024 until Friday 27 December 2024. Offices are also closed on New Year’s Day, Wednesday 1 January 2025. Normal hours will resume from Thursday 2 January 2024. If you need to contact us while we are closed you can report repairs online, or call our out of hours service on 023 8023 3344.