What are Discretionary Housing Payments?
3. DHPs provide financial support towards housing costs and are paid by an LA when they are satisfied that a claimant needs further financial assistance with housing costs and is in receipt of either:
Housing Benefit (HB) or
Universal Credit (UC) with housing costs towards rental liability
4. Owner-occupiers are not eligible to receive DHPs, with the exception of Shared Ownership properties which carry a rental liability.
What we mean by ‘housing costs’
5. ‘Housing costs’ are not defined in the Discretionary Financial Assistance (DFA) Regulations 2001 and this approach purposely allows broad discretion for interpretation. In general, ‘housing costs’ usually refers to rental liability, as well as:
rent in advance
deposits
other lump sum costs associated with a housing need such as removal costs
What we mean by ‘further financial assistance’
6. The phrase ‘further financial assistance’ is not defined in law. LAs may interpret the phrase however they wish; taking into consideration the claimant’s financial circumstances and any other relevant factors.
7. However, in most cases, a claimant will need to demonstrate that they are unable to meet housing costs from their available income or that they have a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
What DHPs can cover
8. DHPs can cover a rental deposit, rent in advance, costs associated with taking up a new tenancy for example, removal costs.
9. DHPs can also cover shortfalls between housing support and actual rental costs, for example, where benefit cap or Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) deductions are applied. See Annex A – Benefit cap and RSRS policy for more information.
What DHPs cannot cover
10. There are certain elements of a claimant’s rent that the HB and UC regulations exclude so they cannot be included as ‘housing costs’ for the purposes of a DHP. See Annex B - What DHPs cannot cover for more details.
When can a DHP be awarded?
11. A DHP can only be awarded once a claimant is in receipt of either:
HB, or the housing element of UC and the end of the first assessment period has passed
The level of a DHP award
12. The Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001 (regulation 4) require that the level of DHP does not exceed the weekly HB or UC housing element.
13. Regard should be given to the Court of Appeal’s decision in R v. LB Lambeth, ex parte Gargett which sets out that any HB already paid towards ‘housing costs’ must be deducted when calculating the amount of a DHP to avoid duplicate provision. See Legal considerations at Annex C for more information.
Length of payments
14. The length of time over which a payment is made is at the discretion of the LA.
15. The period of the award and, importantly, any specific end date, should be made clear to the claimant. LAs may also want to provide information on how to re-apply for a DHP if necessary.
16. If the DHP is to meet a one-off housing cost such as a deposit or rent in advance, there is no requirement to specify the period of the award.
17. An LA can consider making longer term awards where appropriate, for example where a claimant has on-going needs, such as a disabled person living in specially adapted accommodation.
*further advice can be found at your local councils own website in the links here;