Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are funded by the Scottish Government and can provide temporary short term financial assistance for housing costs where your rent is not fully covered by either Housing Benefit or the housing costs element of your Universal Credit or if you can demonstrate financial hardship.
To apply you must be in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit with housing costs and fall into one of the four criteria below:
- be affected by under occupancy restrictions (sometimes referred to as 'bedroom tax')
- be affected by the Benefit Cap restriction
- have a shortfall between Housing Benefit or Universal Credit with housing costs and your rent charge, due to Local House Allowance restrictions
- if you can demonstrate you are in financial hardship
Types of DHP
There are four types of DHP:
- Under Occupancy
- Benefit Cap
- Local Housing Allowance Restrictions
- Financial Hardships
Under Occupancy
If you reside in an East Ayrshire Council tenancy or a Registered Social Landlord and are under occupied you can be awarded a DHP. The payment will cover the shortfall between your Housing Benefit or Housing Costs and your rent charge.
Benefit Cap
If your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit award is reduced due to the benefit cap you can be awarded a DHP. The payment will cover the full the amount you are capped.
Scottish Government are committed to fully mitigating under occupancy and benefit cap by awarding DHP for these purposes without the need for a financial assessment.
Local Housing Allowance Restrictions
If you reside in privately rented accommodation and your housing benefit or housing costs element of your Universal Credit is less than your rent charge due to your Local Housing Allowance rate you can be considered for a DHP award. The payment may cover some or all of the shortfall between your Housing Benefit or Housing Costs and your rent charge.
Financial Hardship
If you receive Housing Benefit or Housing Costs and can demonstrate you are suffering from financial hardship you may be considered for a DHP award. This could be due to having a non-dependant deduction or have an income taper within your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit award.
How to apply for a DHP
We can make an award for DHP over the phone without the need for an assessment if:
- you are affected by under occupancy restrictions, or
- you are affected by the Benefit Cap restrictions
You will be required to provide a full breakdown of your Universal Credit assessment. DHP in these circumstances is not time limited and will continue for as long as you are affected without the need to re-apply.
We can also award DHP to help with a rent shortfall due to:
- Local Housing Allowance (LHA) restrictions
- how your income is assessed and you can demonstrate financial hardship
In these circumstances we will need to make an assessment of your circumstances.
In order to complete your application you will require your benefit reference number (this will be displayed on your Council Tax Reduction or Housing Benefit decision notice) and you and/or your partner’s National Insurance Number and the bank details of the main applicant in order to make a payment.
You will also require a list of your monthly income and your monthly outgoings when completing the application therefore please ensure you have this information before starting your application. You will not be able to proceed with the application without this.
If you are in receipt of Universal Credit you will also be required to provide a full breakdown of your most recent assessment period showing all deductions and allowances. If you are unable to provide this during the application process you can still complete and submit the application and send the information to us at a later date to benefits@east-ayrshire.gov.uk.
We cannot award DHP to help with a shortfall due to:
- service charges not covered by your housing benefit or housing cost award
- an overpayment being recovered or rent arrears
- benefit payments being sanctioned or suspended
- if you are only entitled to Council Tax Reduction and have no housing costs
To allow us to assess if we can make an award for any of the four reasons please complete the online form below:
Discretionary Housing Payment assessment form
Assessing your application
We look at the following when we make a decision:
- your regular income and expenditure
- your savings and any outstanding loans or debts
- if anyone in your house or family can help you financially
- if you could manage your money better
- if you or anyone in your family is ill or disabled
- if you have made efforts to find a more affordable place to live
The application asks for information about all of this, if we need more we will contact you. We may require evidence, if so we will contact you to explain what we need and why.
How much is paid and how long for
How much you get depends on your circumstances and there is no guarantee that you will receive a payment. We can pay DHP for different periods of time.
With the exception of under occupancy and benefit cap awards, most awards are for short-term periods only, with the usual award being for 13 or 26 weeks. We may renew awards if your circumstances are very severe.
How payments are made
If your application is successful and you receive Housing Benefit, we will usually pay your DHP with any Housing Benefit that you receive, although a DHP is not a benefit payment.
If you receive Universal Credit we will pay your DHP every four weeks by bank transfer, this will either be paid directly to you or directly to your landlord in some circumstances. If so, we will require your bank details to make payment.
If you disagree with our decision
DHP is not the same as housing benefit or universal credit. There is no statutory appeals process. If you disagree with our decision you can write to us within one month of the date on the decision letter telling us why you do not agree.
We will consider your application again and write to you with our decision. There is no further course of appeal to the Appeals Tribunals Service if you still disagree with our final decision.
A change of circumstances
If your circumstances change you must tell us within one month by emailing benefits@east-ayrshire.gov.uk or phoning Customer Contact on 01563 554400 (option three). We will look at the DHP we awarded and assess if it needs to be changed.
In some circumstances we might be able to pay you more. If, however, we think you should get less you might have to pay back some or all of the DHP already paid.