Official Statistics

Use of Discretionary Housing Payments: analysis of mid-year returns from local authorities, April to September 2021

Published 16 December 2021

Applies to England and Wales

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of Discretionary Housing Payments statistics.

1. Main stories

Here are the main headlines about the use of Discretionary Housing Payments for the first half of the financial year ending March 2022 based on information received from 315 out of 331 Local Authorities:

• in the first half of the financial year ending March 2022, Local Authorities had spent 46% of their allocations for the year, compared to 40% in the first half of the financial year ending March 2021:
  • this varied between Local Authorities, with 10% of Local Authorities spending less than 30% of their allocation and 29% spending over half
• for Local Authorities that submitted awards data, the total number of DHP awards given out in the first half of the financial year ending March 2022 was 113,590
• 69% of DHP expenditure was related to a welfare reform, with RSRS accounting for the greatest share of expenditure (26%). Over a quarter (27%) of DHP expenditure was related to moving accommodation, while 17% was used for short-term rental costs while seeking employment.

2. What you need to know

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. To be considered for a DHP, a claimant applies to their Local Authority. The Local Authority (LA) decides whether to give a DHP, how much will be paid and for how long the claimant will receive the payment. A DHP might cover a rent shortfall, a rent deposit for a claimant that needs to move home, or another housing cost.

The government provides funding to Local Authorities for DHPs. For the financial year ending March 2022, the government provided £140m of funding. This funding was allocated between English and Welsh Local Authorities in two stages: £100m was allocated at the start and £40m was allocated at the midpoint of the financial year.

A Local Authority might spend less than their allocation of funding or they might spend more, by contributing their own funding (up to a spending limit of two-and-a-half times their allocation). Since Local Authorities are encouraged to manage their DHP budget, the level of DHP spending does not necessarily reflect the level of demand for DHPs.

These statistics cover the period April to September 2021 (i.e. the first half of the financial year ending March 2022). It is likely that the Coronavirus pandemic affected these figures. The findings are based on returns from 315 out of 331 Local Authorities.

Further guidance on these statistics is provided in the more information section of this publication and in the background information and methodology document.

3. How much of their DHP funding did Local Authorities spend?

In the first half of the financial year ending March 2022, the Local Authorities who provided information had spent £60.8m on DHPs.

The Local Authorities who provided information had spent 46% of their combined allocations for this financial year. This figure was similar both for English (46%) and Welsh (50%) Local Authorities. It compares to 40% at the same point in the previous financial year ending March 2021, although caution should be taken when comparing expenditure to previous years as different Local Authorities responded in each year.

The Local Authorities that provided information for number of awards made 113,590 awards to claimants in the first half of the financial year ending March 2022. For the Local Authorities that provided this information, the total expenditure on DHPs was £59.9m. While this suggests that the average DHP award was £527, this figure should be treated with caution, since there are a variety of different types of DHP awards (for example, a single DHP award to cover a deposit is likely to have a different value to a DHP award paid on a weekly or monthly basis).

Over three quarters of Local Authorities spent between 30% to 60% of their allocation

Local Authorities varied in the proportion of their DHP allocation that they had spent, with 10% of Local Authorities spending less than 30% of their allocation and 29% spending over half. In the previous financial year, the pattern of spending showed Local Authorities spending a lower proportion of their allocated funding: 29% of Local Authorities who responded had spent less than 30% of their allocation, while 11% had spent over half.

Local Authorities in Wales spent the highest proportion of their allocations, Local Authorities in the South West spent the least

There was some variation by region, with Local Authorities in Wales spending the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (50%) and Local Authorities in the South West spending the least (43%). In the first half of the previous financial year ending March 2021 the regional variation was different , with Local Authorities in Outer London spending the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (46%) and Local Authorities in the East Midlands spending the least (32%).

4. How much was spent on each welfare reform

69% of DHP expenditure was related to welfare reforms

69% of DHP expenditure was recorded as related to welfare reforms. Of the individual welfare reforms, the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) was recorded as being responsible for the largest proportion of DHP expenditure (26%), followed by the Benefit Cap (19%) and Local Housing Allowance (LHA) reforms (15%), with 8% of expenditure related to a combination of welfare reforms.

Just under a third (31%) of DHP expenditure was reported as unrelated to welfare reforms.

In the previous financial year, 65% of DHP expenditure was recorded as being related to welfare reforms.

5. What DHPs were awarded for

Over a quarter of expenditure was related to moving to alternative accommodation

Over a quarter (27%) of DHP expenditure was related to moving to alternative accommodation. 17% was to help with short-term rental costs while the claimant sought employment, while 3% went towards costs for disabled people in adapted accommodation.

Around half (53%) of DHP expenditure was given to help with ongoing rental costs, for a reason unrelated to the above.

6. More information

DHP government funding

Total DHP funding for the financial year ending March 2022 is £140m. Funding for DHPs has historically been split into four streams (Core, Local Housing Allowance, Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy and Benefit Cap) for DWP’s calculation purposes, although Local Authorities are not required to take account of these streams in allocating their funding. More information about funding levels over time can be found in table 1 in the data tables document accompanying this statistics release.

Welfare reforms

Since the welfare reforms in 2011, the government has significantly increased its contribution to DHPs. This is so that Local Authorities can support those affected by the Benefit Cap, Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) and reforms to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). The background information and methodology document provides more detail.

Data source

At the midpoint and end of each financial year, Local Authorities provide details of their DHP expenditure for financial accounting purposes, which they are legally required to do. 315 out of 331 Local Authorities provided this information in time for inclusion within these statistics. Of these 315 Local Authorities, 306 gave information about the number of DHP awards they gave out in the financial year.

In addition to financial information, Local Authorities are also asked, at the mid-point and end of each financial year, to provide additional monitoring information. Not all Local Authorities supply some or all of the monitoring information requested. Of the 315 Local Authorities that submitted a return, 302 provided a breakdown of expenditure by welfare reform and 285 provided a breakdown of expenditure by purpose of DHP. More information about both the financial information and monitoring information provided in returns can be found in the background information and methodology document.

Release schedule

These Official Statistics are released biannually. This current statistical release presents a summary of the mid-year claim forms that include both financial and monitoring information. They cover the first half of the financial year, ending March 2022.

The next release in this series will be based on end-of-year monitoring and financial returns covering April 2021 to March 2022. It will be published in July 2022.

Status

These statistics have not been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and have not been designated as National Statistics.

7. Where to find out more

Publication page for this statistics release, supporting tables, and background document.

These statistics are released as part of a series of Discretionary Housing Payment statistics.

Read information about Discretionary Housing Payments, including how to claim them, can be found here.

8. Contact information

Responsible Analyst: Graham Walmsley
Email: graham.walmsley1@dwp.gov.uk

Author: Vraj Bhatt
Email: vraj.bhatt@dwp.gov.uk

DWP Press Office: 0203 267 5144

Comments? Feedback is welcome

Published: 16 December 2021
Next edition: July 2022