Discretionary Housing Payments

News letter
February 2015
News this month
The DWP have announced their DHP funding for 2015/16 and for Bristol City Council we will receive a 20%
reduction as a comparison to the last couple of years. Our new fund from April 2015 will be 945,862.
We can also carry over any of the additional 150k provided by the council that isnt spent as there isnt any
restriction on when this money must be used, unlike monies awarded by DWP

DHP Funding by year

2015/16
945,862.00
150,000.00

2014/15

1,332,991.00

2013/14
1,137,227.00
0

200,000

400,000

600,000

Additional Funding

800,000

1,000,000 1,200,000 1,400,000

DWP Funding

On average we are processing DHP claims within 14 days and at present we have 150 applications to process
Th
with a date profile of 9 February 2015. As of today the DWP funding of 1,332,991.00 has been spent and
there is just the additional 150k left in the fund.
We continue to make one off awards in advance and to consider backdating where requested.
The DHP policy for 2015/16 has been shared for comment so please send us some feedback if theres any
changes youd like us to consider.

Some statistics for you

For the purpose of this briefing note the figures provided are based on the period 1/4/14 to 31/1/15.
The numbers of applications we have received so far are represented on the next graph. The purple line
shows the current year and youll notice that the trend is very similar to last years, although is slightly
lower in numbers, even though our budget increased.
This has enabled us to continue the 30 income tolerance and to make larger awards.

DHP applications received by year and by month since 2012/13

450
411
389

410

400
350
300

2012/13

295
271

250

263

200

2013/14

245
230

209

169

199

205

244
220

218

208

203

258

213

185

172

150

141

158

100
87

77

50
0

90

105

104

118

82

97

2014/15

222

215

82

Apr

May

Jun

July

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

March

The next chart represents our monthly spend against our forecasted spend. The last 3 green columns
represent the addition of the 150k which weve divided by the last three months of the year.
We are slightly under target at the end of Januray due to still having a number of applications to process.
Forecasted spend
DHP spend versus forecast April 2014 to March 2015

Actual spend

1,400,000.00
1,200,000.00
1,062,569.90

1,000,000.00

943,186.76
831,579.34

800,000.00

754,417.65
641,091.43

600,000.00

549,197.67
478,671.13

400,000.00

382,904.46
278,020.45

200,000.00
162,655.33

0.00
Apr

may

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

The next chart shows our in month spend as a comparison with last years spend. Youll notice that this
year (in blue) weve been slightly more consistent with the ammount weve allocated on a monthly basis
compared to last year. The drop in spend for November was due to the team concentrating on other work
areas and a backlog of DHP applications built up.

DHP in month spend from 1/4/14 as a camparison to last financial year

2014 - 2015
2013-2014

250,000.00

200,000.00

182,073.62

191,650.62

162,655.33

150,000.00
114,393.07
115,365.12
104,884.01
95,766.67
95,433.00

100,000.00

113,326.22

119,383.23
111,607.42
103,275.43

91,893.78

97,836.96

77,161.69

70,526.54
60,612.36

87,953.21
67,108.25

50,000.00

48,619.18

52,125.68

32,720.70

0.00
Apr

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb March

Our biggest area of demand comes from those people affected by the under occupation charge (SSSC).
We are starting to see more applications for help with removal costs as some of these people have been
able to downsize.

% Spend by welfare reform

14%
10%
SSSC
BEN CAP
4%

72%

NO IMPACT
LHA