Official Statistics

Use of Discretionary Housing Payments: analysis of end-of-year returns from local authorities, data for April 2021 to March 2022

Published 14 July 2022

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 financial year ending March 2022 based on information received from 316 out of 331 Local Authorities:

• in the financial year ending March 2022, Local Authorities spent £142m on Discretionary Housing Payments including any additional funding they provided.
• this expenditure represented 105% of their funding compared to 98% in the previous financial year.
  • this varied between Local Authorities, with nearly half (47%) of Local Authorities spending between 95% and 105% of their allocated funding. Just over a quarter (28%) spent less than 95% and a quarter (25%) spent over 105%
  • Welsh LAs spent a greater proportion of their funding (131%) than English LAs (104%). This is likely to be because Welsh LAs received additional DHP funding from the Welsh Government
• for Local Authorities that submitted awards data, the total number of DHP awards given out in the financial year ending March 2022 was 204,147
• 63% of DHP expenditure was related to a welfare reform, with RSRS accounting for the greatest share of expenditure (26%). Over a quarter (26%) of DHP expenditure was related to moving accommodation, while 15% 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 financial year ending March 2022. The findings are based on returns from 316 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?

Total funding provided for all Local Authorities for the financial year ending March 2022 was £140m. The 316 Local Authorities that these findings are based on were given £134m of this funding.

In the financial year ending March 2022, the Local Authorities who provided information had spent £142m on DHPs, including additional funding they provided. This expenditure represented 105% of their combined allocations. English LAs spent 104% of their allocations and Welsh LAs spent 131%: the difference is likely to be because Welsh LAs received additional funding from the Welsh Government. Local Authorities made 204,147 DHP awards to claimants in the financial year ending March 2022. For Local Authorities that provided information on awards, the total expenditure on DHPs was £136m (including additional LA funding). While this suggests that the average DHP award was £667, 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).

Excluding any additional funding Local Authorities provided, their total expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments was £129m. This means that DHP expenditure represented 96% of the Local Authorities’ combined funding for the financial year. This level of spending was similar for both English (96%) and Welsh (99%) Local Authorities.

Just under half of Local Authorities spent between 95% and 105% of their allocation

Just under half (47%) of Local Authorities spent between 95% and 105% of their allocated funding: that is, they spent slightly more or slightly less than their allocated funding. Over a quarter (28%) spent less than 95% of their allocated funding, while a quarter (25%) spent more than 105%. In the previous financial year, Local Authorities spent lower proportions of their allocated funding: 38% spent under 95%,13% spent over 105% and 48% spent between 95% and 105%.

Almost 3 in 10 Local Authorities spent between 99% and 101% of their allocation

When looking more closely at Local Authorities that spent between 95% and 105% of their allocations, 91 of them spent more than 99% and less than or equal to 101% (i.e. very close to 100% of their allocation). This is just under a third (29%) of all Local Authorities that provided a return. Of these, 17 Local Authorities reported spending exactly 100% of their allocation.

Local Authorities in Wales spent the highest proportion of their allocations, Local Authorities in the East Midlands spent the least

There was some variation by region, with Local Authorities in Wales spending the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (131%). We were made aware by Welsh LAs that they had received a top up of DHP funding by the Welsh government. Local Authorities in the East Midlands spent the lowest proportion of their combined allocations (97%). In the previous financial year, the regional variation was different, with Local Authorities in Inner London spending the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (106%) and Local Authorities in the East Midlands spending the least (82%).

4. How much was spent on each welfare reform

63% of DHP expenditure was related to welfare reforms

63% of DHP expenditure was recorded as related to welfare reforms (the percentages in the chart above do not add up to this due to rounding). 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 (15%) and Local Housing Allowance (LHA) reforms (14%), with 7% of expenditure related to a combination of welfare reforms.

Over a third (37%) of DHP expenditure was reported as unrelated to welfare reforms.

In the previous financial year, the same proportion (63%) 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

Just over a quarter (26%) of DHP expenditure was related to moving to alternative accommodation. 15% was to help with short-term rental costs while the claimant sought employment, while 2% went towards costs for disabled people in adapted accommodation.

Over half (56%) 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. This was split into two parts, £100m allocated at the start of the year and £40m allocated at the mid-point of the financial year. More information about funding levels over time can be found in table 1 in the data tables document of 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. 316 out of 331 Local Authorities provided this information in time for inclusion within these statistics. Of these 316 Local Authorities, 307 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 316 Local Authorities that submitted a return, 305 provided a breakdown of expenditure by welfare reform and 290 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 end-of-year claim forms that include both financial and monitoring information. They cover the financial year, ending March 2022.

The next release in this series will be based on mid-year monitoring and financial returns covering April 2022 to September 2022. It will be published in December 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

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.

8. Contact information

Comments? Feedback is welcome.

Responsible Analyst: Laura Parkhurst
Email: laura.parkhurst@dwp.gov.uk

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

For media enquiries please contact the DWP press office.

Published 14 July 2022

Next edition December 2022