Discretionary Housing Payments cuts

Some councils who were previously quite willing to give out DHPs seem to be refusing now, presumably because they are waiting for the full impact of the LHA cuts. Is there any way this new policy can be challenged - or do councils simply have full discretion?  I am currently drafting a review letter on behalf of a single man.  I am thinking of including questions to the council requesting that they explain how much of their allocation they have spent so far and if they are holding back spending because of the anticipated impact of the cuts. Can anyone help or advise?

Secondly, some councils volunteered to be in the pilot LHA scheme, so all their private claimants are now on LHA. Other councils advised individual claimants to move to LHA , rather than award a DHP for the rent restriction. These claimants will end up being being much worse off.  Is there anyway councils can be challenged on these decisions? I suspect there isn’t and that vulnerable claimants will just have even less benefit.

Councils can be challenged. Most will have an internal review process, and there is an option for judicial review. However JR grounds are very limited, and I think you will find it difficult to argue that the Council is acting unreasonably in tightening up their criteria for granting DHP in the light of an anticipated dramatic increase in demand.

In our case, the Council has received an extra £15,000 in Government contribution to DHPs this year, but anticipate an increase in the shortfall our claimants have to pay of something in the region of £200,000 for this year despite the transitional protection.

Previously we have awarded DHPs to over 90% of people who have applied for them, and in the vast majority of cases the award has covered the entire shortfall in the rent. If our projections are even moderately accurate, we expect to be able to grant DHPs to around only 50% of applicants with only about half of these having the full shortfall met. the position will get much worse next year unless we receive a further dramatic increase in Government contribution.