For each of the following financial years a) 2011/12 (b) 2012/13 (c) 2013/14) (d) 2014/15, could you please provide the following information (where applicable):

1) The amount of money given to you in Discretionary Housing Payments?

The Government DHP award to Brighton & Hove City Council for these years:

2011/12: £387,835

2012/13 £633,236

2013/14: £1,014,714

2014/15: £1,010,456

2) The amount of money given to you in Discretionary Housing Payments for specific expenditure on ameliorating the impact of the new social size criteria/underoccupancy penalty?

Not applicable prior to 1/4/13.

Nationally the Government attributed £30m of the total DHP fund of £155m in 2013/14 towards the Social Sector Size Criteria (SSSC), please see DWP Circular S1/2013
The Government did not provide a breakdown of the £30m SSSC funding, within the DHP fund, for each Local Authority.

Nationally the Government attributed £60m of the total DHP fund of £165m in 2014/15 towards the Social Sector Size Criteria, please see DWP Circular S1/2014
As above, there was no breakdown of the £60m for each Local Authority.

3) The amount of money allocated for expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments in each Council Budget?

The Council has always allocated the total Government fund towards DHP expenditure.
For 2013/14 the Council allocated an additional £300k for Discretionary Council Tax Reduction, as well as a reserve figure of an additional £300k towards DHP expenditure.
The Council also allocated £70k for Council tenants, which is funded from the Housing Revenue Account (HRA). This does not mean that DHPs for Council tenants are limited to this amount.

4) The amount of money allocated for expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments in each Council to ameliorate the impact of the new social size criteria/underoccupancy penalty?

The Social Sector Size Criteria (SSSC) came into effect from 1/4/13. The fund of £1m for 2013/14 has been allocated across the range of need relating to the categories defined by the DWP (baseline funding – pre 2013 DHP fund, Local Housing Allowance reforms, SSSC and Benefit Cap). While we did attribute rough figures to the various categories we have not been prescriptive and used the funding to appropriately mitigate hardship and vulnerability., whilst working with tenants to find longer term solutions.
The Council has allocated £70k of its own funds to assist Council tenants facing hardship, as mentioned above.

5) The amount of money spent on Discretionary Housing Payments?

2011/12: £148,693*
2012/13: £884,855
2013/14: Forecast expenditure to the end of the financial year is approx. £1m

*please note Local Authorities were allowed to carry forward underspends in DHP funds from 2011/12 to 2012/13 because the expected impact of LHA reforms were not felt until the following financial year.

6) The amount of money spent on Discretionary Housing Payments specifically to ameliorate the impact of the new social size criteria/underoccupancy penalty?

We can identify a specific £72k for this purpose however other DHP awards will have been made, for different reasons (for example for non-dependents, income or other individual reasons), which are also for HRA cases. We cannot differentiate the expenditure where there are these overlaps.