ADVISER: Dealing with Discretionary Housing Payments

We’ve seen a lot more enquires about Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) since the changes to Local Housing Allowance back in 2011.  These discretionary payments can be a real lifeline for tenants who are renting privately and relying on housing benefit to meet their housing costs. 

The Housing Executive manages the budget for DHPs. The DHP budget is a capped fund and the Housing Executive has a responsibility to manage this budget so that relief is available for people who need it.

Backdated DHP awarded

One of our recent clients was a single parent named Marie.  Marie has 2 children, both under 13 and suffers from severe depression and claustrophobia.  Marie’s not able to work and has been receiving benefits, including Disability Living Allowance for a number of years.  Although she’s on the list for social housing, she’s been renting privately for quite a while.  Marie’s mental health issues mean she regularly relies on her mum and her sister, who live close to her rented home, for help with the kids. 

Marie came to Housing Rights Service because she’d fallen into arrears. Her landlord had refused to sort out any repairs in the property until the rent account was back in credit.  Marie had been receiving a DHP, but hadn’t realised that the payment had stopped.  Our adviser helped Marie to make a new application for a DHP and requested that this payment be backdated to help cover the arrears that had built up.

The Housing Executive initially refused to backdate the claim, stating that DHPs couldn’t be backdated due to the limited budget available for these payments.  Our adviser checked the Housing Executive’s guidance to find out if there was any reference to backdating DHPs. 

Checking official guidance

Section 4.2 of the Housing Executive Guidance note G18/06 on The Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 holds that backdating is possible .  This section states that

“Districts are advised not to backdate entitlement to DHPs for more than 1 month as this will result in undue pressure on the budget.”

Our adviser also used points from the recent Department of Work and Pensions guidance for Local Authorities in relation to the award of DHPs. Section 3.19 of the DWP Guidance which states:

“You should look at each claim on its own merits when deciding whether or not to backdate a DHP. There are no rules on backdating but you do have a duty to act consistently.”

NIHE accepted this argument.  The client’s new claim for a DHP was successful and included a significant backdated sum which helped clear some of the client’s rent arrears

Applying for a DHP

Any clients who receive housing benefit and have to make a short fall payment to their landlord can complete a form to apply for a DHP.  The form asks for information about the rent and the tenancy to establish if tenant could move to cheaper accommodation and if there’s a risk that the tenant could be evicted if a DHP isn’t paid. 

A DHP is a short-term measure and, where possible, tenants in receipt of these should be encouraged to find cheaper accommodation.  Of course, this isn’t always possible, particularly given the difference between Local Housing Allowance rates and market rents.

Considering an application

Any application for a DHP should be assessed on its individual merits.  There may very well be a reason that the tenant can’t move to cheaper or smaller accommodation.  In Marie’s case there was no cheaper privately rented housing in the area and moving away from her mother and sister would seriously impact on her ability to live independently.

As the payments are discretionary there is no formal right of appeal however in practice NIHE will reconsider a refusal on request.

It is important to note that DHPs will be awarded for a set period of time, anything between 13 weeks and 6 months. Clients need to apply for a new DHP once their initial claim ends.  In the award letter, your clients will be told how long this claim will last for, but the Housing Executive won’t write again to notify a claimant that the DHP award is due to expire.   If you’re advising clients in receipt of DHPs ask them to mark in their calendars or otherwise take note of the date that the claim will expire.  Clients can submit a new claim form once the original DHP award ends.

Repairs and arrears

One of the more worrying aspects of Marie’s story was her landlord’s refusal to deal with his repairing obligations because Marie was behind on her rent.  Landlords shouldn’t refuse to deal with repairs because a tenant is in arrears.  We’re currently running a training course on repairs.  The course looks at the main issues and solutions for private and social tenants who are having difficulties getting repairs done.