Official Statistics

Background information and methodology: use of Discretionary Housing Payments statistics

Published 13 July 2023

Applies to England and Wales

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

1. Introduction

These Official Statistics are published biannually and give a summary of Local Authority (LA) expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs). These statistics have not been assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and have not been designated as National Statistics.

For accounting purposes, LAs are legally required to provide details of their DHP expenditure at the midpoint and end of the financial year. LAs are also asked for voluntary ‘monitoring’ information to provide further details about their use of DHP funding.

In previous years, LAs provided financial information and monitoring information on separate returns. Since the financial year ending March 2021, LAs complete a combined return, which asks for both the legally required financial information and the voluntary monitoring information on the same return. This statistical release presents a summary of these returns. It covers the financial year ending March 2023.

See previous releases of the DHP statistics.

2. Methodology

The financial information details how much of the government contribution towards DHPs LAs have spent for the financial year (including any additional expenditure above the government contribution). The analysis of this data focuses on comparing total spend against central government allocations.

Any comparison of expenditure across years should be treated with caution as the government contribution to DHPs differs year to year. Additionally, in the financial year ending March 2023, LAs were given their allocation in two parts: £98 million was allocated at the start of the financial year and £2 million at the midpoint. This may have affected their spending.

By 31 May 2023, 320 out of 331 LAs had submitted a return. All of these returns included an estimate of DHP expenditure. The Department is contacting the remaining LAs in order to obtain information about expenditure.

These statistics are also based on monitoring information, which gives further details of LA expenditure on DHPs by splitting the spend by the purpose for which the DHP was awarded and the welfare reform (if any) with which it was associated.

Because the monitoring information is voluntary, not all LAs provide it, and some LAs do not supply all the information requested. This means that, for example, some LAs may provide a split by welfare reform, but not by purpose of the DHP.

Of the 320 LAs that submitted returns by our deadline of 31 May 2023, 302 provided a breakdown of expenditure by welfare reform whilst 289 provided a breakdown of expenditure by purpose of DHP.

When we gather returns, we perform various checks to assess whether they are accurate. For example, we check against the previous year’s figures. We also check any results that look too big or too small. We then query any results that appear to be inaccurate with the LA.

That said, the statistics rely on the accuracy of the returns. Although we believe they give an accurate overall picture, it is likely that smaller errors remain even after the quality checks above.

When LAs provide data on the number of awards, there may be some differences between LAs in the way awards are counted. For example, if the amount of a DHP award changed, some LAs may count this as a new DHP award, whereas some may count it as the same award. We do query awards figures with LAs that are inconsistent with other data they provide, but caution should be taken when comparing the number of awards reported by individual LAs.

3. Trustworthiness and Quality

As described above, this publication is based on information provided by LAs. While some quality checks are conducted, the results are not verified in detail.

Any discrepancies were queried with LAs and any resubmissions of corrected returns received by 31 May 2023 were accepted and included in the analysis. No results were altered without the explicit consent of the submitting LA.

4. Definitions

4.1. Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS)

In April 2013 the RSRS policy came into effect. This policy applies to working age social rented sector Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claimants (pensioner households are exempt). Where claimants are deemed to occupy more bedrooms than they need, as defined by the social sector size criteria, they are subject to a weekly reduction in the eligible rent used to assess their housing benefit. Where claimants are deemed to occupy more bedrooms than they need, as defined by the social sector size criteria, they are subject to a weekly reduction in the eligible rent used to assess their housing benefit. For those with one spare bedroom this is a 14% reduction to their eligible rent, or for those with 2 or more spare bedrooms this is a 25% reduction.

4.2. Benefit Cap

The benefit cap, introduced in April 2013, limits the amount of welfare benefits a working age household can receive and is applied through Housing Benefit (HB) and Universal Credit (UC).

The cap levels were lowered and tiered from 7 November 2016 to:

• Nationally – £20,000 per year for couples and lone parents, and £13,400 for single people

• Greater London – £23,000 per year for couples and lone parents, and £15,410 for single people

The Secretary of State reviewed the benefit cap levels in November 2022 and decided they should be increased from April 2023. The new levels are:

• Nationally – £22,020 per year for couples and lone parents, and £14,753 for single people
• Greater London – £25,323 per year for couples and lone parents, and £16,967 for single people

4.3. Local Housing Allowance Reforms

Tenants who rent from a private landlord and receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit Housing Allowance generally have their claim assessed under the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules. These determine the maximum amount payable in a given area depending on the household characteristics of the claimant. Reforms to the LHA system since April 2011 have generally restricted the eligible rent that can be met through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit.

5. Useful links

Find previous releases of the DHP statistics.

Information on Official Statistics is available on the UK Statistics Authority website.

Read information about statistics at DWP.

6. Contact information

Media enquiries

For media enquiries please contact the DWP press office.

Responsible Analyst

Stephanie De Miranda
Email: Stephanie.DeMiranda@dwp.gov.uk

Author

Liam Hearn
Email: Liam.Hearn@dwp.gov.uk