Discretionary Housing Payments Expenditure
Amount spent by Local Authorities on awards for Discretionary Housing Payments
Data
Discretionary Housing Payments Expenditure
Description
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are administered in Scotland by the 32 Scottish Local Authorities. DHPs may be awarded when a Local Authority considers that a housing benefit or universal credit (including the housing element) claimant requires further financial assistance towards housing costs. DHPs can be used to provide support to claimants affected by some of the key welfare reforms, including the introduction of benefit cap, the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy in the social rented sector ('RSRS', also known as the 'bedroom tax') and reductions in Local Housing Allowance.
As of April 2017, full responsibility for DHPs has been transferred to the Scottish Government and the Department for Work and Pensions no longer provides any funding. Scottish Government allocates funding for DHPs to each Local Authority, and Local Authorities are also free to provide additional funding from their own resources.
These annual DHP statistics cover the period from 1 April to 31 March each financial year.
Metadata
| Theme | Economic Activity, Benefits and Tax Credits |
|---|---|
| Organisation | Scottish Government |
| License | UK Open Government Licence (OGL) |
| Published | |
| Last updated | |
| Next update | 1 May 2024 |
| Update frequency | annual |
| Reference period | 2013 to 2023 |
| Geographic coverage | Council Areas, Country |
| Contact | SocialSecurityStats@gov.scot |
Data quality
Completeness
Not assessed
Uniqueness
Not assessed
Consistency
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes statistics on Discretionary Housing Payments. The most recent statistics cover DHPs in England and Wales only. Previous versions of the statistics up until March 2017 cover DHPs in Great Britain.
Timeliness
Annual statistics are updated once a year in May following the end of the financial year in March. We also publish statistics in November covering the first half of the financial year.
Validity
Not assessed
Accuracy
Not assessed
Quality management
To check the quality of the data we receive, we compare the responses to the above questions with the responses given the month before. We would normally expect the number of applications, determinations, awards and total value of awards to increase each month. Where this is not the case, we contact the Local Authority and query their responses.
Additional details
Revisions
Not applicable
Confidentiality policy
Not assessed