Discretionary Housing Payments, welfare reform, and caseload information
Discretionary housing payments
We receive an annual grant from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to fund Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to top up Housing Benefit where appropriate. Any of the grant not spent is returned to DWP.
2024/25
The total grant this year from DWP was £1,396,135. Any amount that has been awarded above that was paid by the Council out of the General Fund. The figures shown below for each quarter are cumulative.
| To end of |
April to June 2024 |
July to September 2024 | October to December 2024 | January to March 2025 |
| Amount spent (net of DHP overpayments recovered) | £756,351 | £1,363,978 | £1,909,160 |
| To end of | Paid | Refused | Total dealt with |
|---|---|---|---|
| April - June | 660 | 708 | 1,368 |
| July - September | 466 | 666 | 1,132 |
| October - December | 464 | 618 | 1,082 |
| January - March |
Discretionary Housing Payment entitlement by ward and tenure
Discretionary Housing Payments - expenditure in previous years
Look at how Discretionary Housing Payments have been used nationally on GOV.UK
Welfare reform
Under-occupation
Housing Benefit for council tenants and housing association tenants of working age is reduced if they are considered to have more bedrooms than they need. This is widely known as 'the bedroom tax' though it is a reduction of benefit rather than a tax we issue bills for.
The dwindling caseload is partly the result of claimants moving from Housing Benefit (HB) to Universal Credit (UC). The UC housing element is reduced in the same way as for HB but numbers affected are unknown.
| April to June | July to September | October to December | January to March | |
| Reduction for one spare bedroom | 2,087 | 1,892 | 1,701 | |
| Reduction for two or more spare beds | 582 | 565 | 525 | |
| All cases affected | 2,669 | 2,457 | 2,226 | |
| Average reduction | £17.60 | £17.79 | £17.80 | |
| Cases with DHP | 272 | 258 | 213 | |
| Cases needing a one bedroom property | 1,880 | 1,570 | 1,466 | |
| Cases needing a two bedroom property | 789 | 887 | 761 |
Under-occupied cases getting Discretionary Housing Payment split by landlord
Under-occupied cases getting Discretionary Housing Payment split by ward
Under-occupation data for earlier years
Look at the national under-occupation statistics on GOV.UK
Benefit cap
The total amount of benefit that most working-age people can get is capped - you can't get more benefit than the amount set by the government.
The current level of benefit cap is £423.46 a week (£283.71 for single people without children). This amount has applied since April 2023.
Numbers of cases are now dwindling as claimants move from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit, with DWP applying the benefit cap instead. UC figures are rounded to nearest 10 and published several months after the end of the quarter.
| April to June | July to September | October to December | January to March | |
| Cases capped | 51 | 24 | 13 | |
| Average weekly reduction | £55.77 | £63.94 | £47.00 | |
| Number of cases with DHP | 9 | 5 | 3 |
Housing Benefit claimants by ward and housing sector whose benefit is capped
Benefit cap data for earlier years
Benefit Cap - national statistics broken down by local authority
Caseload
Information about the benefits service caseload broken down into each type of case per quarter
| April to June | July to September | October to December | January to March | |
| Live case load | 52,283 | 51,358 | 50,894 | |
| Cases with housing benefit | 27,795 | 25,688 | 24,438 | |
| Cases with Council Tax Support | 46,979 | 46,486 | 46,135 | |
| Council tenant | 7,048 | 6,677 | 6,408 | |
| Housing association tenants | 17,178 | 16,136 | 15,397 | |
| Private tenants | 3,569 | 2,875 | 2,633 | |
| Council Tax Support only cases | 24,488 | 25,670 | 26,456 |
Quarterly numbers of working-age Council Tax Support claimants by ward and band
Quarterly numbers of non-working-age Council Tax Support claimants by ward and band