DISCRETIONARY HOUSING PAYMENT POLICY

DISCRETIONARY HOUSING PAYMENT POLICY

BACKGROUND

The Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 created Discretionary Housing Payments and they were formally introduced from 2nd July 2001. The new scheme replaced two existing schemes of discretionary housing payment:-

Exceptional Hardship Payments.
Exceptional Circumstances Payments.

The new scheme amalgamates the two previous schemes and also widens their provision. DHP are not part of the Housing Benefit system, any payments will be made in addition to Housing Benefit. Consequently, normal HB/CTB subsidy regime and appeals procedures do not apply. Administration of the scheme will be governed by the Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001.

In order to qualify for DHP an applicant must:-

Be entitled to Housing and or Council Tax Benefit
Appear to the authority to require further financial assistance to meet their housing costs.

DHP cannot be awarded in respect of any of the following:-

Ineligible support or service charges
Any rent liability if the claimant is entitled to CTB only
Any Council tax liability if the claimant is only entitled to Housing Benefit or Second Adult Rebate.
Increases to cover rent arrears which are not eligible for HB.
Reductions in benefit as a result of CSA sanctions
Amounts of HB/CTB that have been suspended.

Any payments under the DHP scheme when taken together with the claimant's HB/CTB entitlement must not exceed their eligible rent or Council Tax liability.

The DHP scheme is cash limited. The LA will be awarded an annual grant by the Department of Work and Pensions towards the cost of administering the scheme. In addition to the DWP grant the Authority can spend an additional amount on the scheme as long as the total expenditure does not exceed two and a half times the total of the DWP grant in any financial year. This figure, the Permitted Total, must not be exceeded otherwise individual officers may be liable to surcharge in respect the excess payments.

Consequently a policy needs to be established to ensure both consistency and transparency of the administration of DHP

THE POLICY

All applications for DHP will be means tested in order to ensure that the limited funds available are sufficient to last for the entire financial year. The means test will be in the form of a simple comparison of income against expenditure. Apart from the Mobility component of DLA, other welfare benefits will not be disregarded when applying the means test.

Applicants will be expected to supply documentary evidence with regards to their expenditure on utilities and other outgoings. Where no documentary evidence has been provided, the officer reviewing the application will decide whether the expenditure incurred should be accepted, either in part or in its entirety.

Where the reviewing officer deems that expenditure on certain items is unreasonably high he/she will reduce that figure to an amount in keeping with local averages.

All applications for DHP will be made in writing to the Local Authority, either by letter, or on an application form approved by the Council.

Housing Benefit staff will be encouraged to identify cases that they believe to be deserving of DHP. Where such cases have been identified they will invite that person to apply.

Prior to deciding on an award a home visit will be made in most cases in order to:-

Corroborate evidence of expenditure provided by the applicant.
Get a clearer view of the standard of living or hardship experienced by the applicant.

Where the application is for a repeat DHP award immediately following one period of DHP payment, it will be for the relevant benefit supervisor to determine whether another home visit is required.

When making a determination on a DHP award the reviewing officer will consider the following factors:-

Is there a deficit of income over expenditure?
Does the applicant have any unreasonable living expenses?
Was the applicant able to afford the rent liability when he/she first moved in to the property?
Are there any medical reasons to justify the award?
Has the applicant's financial hardship been created as a result of a recent bereavement?
Is the applicant living beyond his/her means in an unreasonable manner?
Has any effort been made to negotiate a lower rent with the landlord or to look for cheaper accommodation?
Does the applicant have rent arrears?
Does the applicant have any savings?
Did the applicant apply for a Pre Tenancy Determination prior to moving to the property?
Will the applicant suffer hardship should a DHP award not be made?
Should DHP not be awarded is the applicant likely to become homeless?

Whilst there is no prescribed period for DHP awards, initial awards will be made for a maximum period of six months. At the end of the award period the applicant must re apply should they feel that the hardship has still not been alleviated. However, DHP cannot be regarded as an indefinite top up of a shortfall in Housing Benefit. It is intended to give the applicant sufficient time to, either, negotiate a lower rent with the landlord or seek cheaper accommodation.

Repeat awards following the expiry of one period of DHP will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. Where such applications are received the applicant will need to justify, both the case for continuing financial hardship, and the reasons why the original award period was not sufficient to alleviate hardship.

Where a successful application has been made the applicant will be notified in writing of:-

The weekly amount of the award.
The duration of the award.
The method and frequency of payment.
To whom the payment is to be made.
An explanation of the applicant's obligation to notify the department of any changes in circumstances that may affect continued entitlement to DHP.
An explanation that DHPs are not part of the HB/CTB scheme and are consequently not subject to the same appeals process.

Where an application has been unsuccessful the applicant will be informed of the fact and told that he/she can ask for the matter to be reconsidered. (See para14 for details of re considerations and appeals)

Towards the end of an award period the Authority will write to the applicant informing them of the fact. The notification will also state that should they feel that there are exceptional circumstances they can ask for a further period of DHP to be awarded. Any such application must be made via a fresh application form.

Where DHP has been awarded and it subsequently becomes known that there was a change of circumstances that would have resulted in the termination of the award, any element of the award made after the date of the relevant change of circumstances will be treated as being overpaid and deemed to be recoverable.

DHPs are not part of the Housing Benefit scheme and consequently not subject to the Housing Benefit appeals process. However, in the interest of natural justice it is important that there is a mechanism in place to challenge decisions relating to the award of DHPs. To this end a process broadly in line with the mainstream HB appeals process will be in place for applicants to challenge unfavourable decisions.

Where an application for DHP has been refused, either in part or in full, the applicant may ask that the matter be re considered. The re consideration will be undertaken by a separate, more senior officer. The request should be made in writing within one month of the date of the original notification.
Should the re consideration uphold the original determination, the applicant can request that the matter be considered by a panel of the Local authorities Councillors. The request must be in writing, within one month of the date of the notification of the outcome of the re consideration.
Where an appeal has been passed for consideration by a panel of Councillors, neither party will have a right to a verbal hearing, all submissions will be in writing. The applicant will be notified, in writing, of the outcome of the appeal within seven days of the date of the hearing.
Where an award of DHP has been deemed to be overpaid, either in part or in full, and the Authority has deemed that the overpayment is recoverable, the applicant will have recourse to the same appeal rights as he/she would be entitled to during the initial DHP assessment process.
When considering appeals against refusal to grant DHP, Councillors will always have regard to the limitations on DHP expenditure placed upon the Authority by the DWP annual `permitted total'.

Revised Sept 2006