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Can a Discretionary Housing Payment be used to pay rent for a period before Housing Benefit is awarded?
Hello
We have a client who we have made an application for Housing Benefit for. It is likely that the Housing Benefit will only be backdated for one month as the client is of working age. However, the client moved into their property about three months ago. There was a delay in making the claim because we had problems obtaining the tenancy agreement. After Housing Benefit is awarded, could a Discretionary Housing Payment be made to pay rent for the period before the Housing Benefit is likely to be awarded for?
Thanks
Not according to the very clear case law (Natasha Gargett and Lambeth Council), but this is routinely ignored including by DWP in their DHP guidance. Local authorities are not officially discouraged from conjuring lump-sum DHPs out of thin air, despite the regulations (as confirmed in Gargett) saying that any DHP, whether it is paid from week to week, month to month or as a one-off, must be calculated by reference to a period in which there is a weekly/monthly shortfall between entitlement to HB or UC and the full rent. Nothing bad will happen if they do it.
Depending on how the budget looks, this could be a very good time or a very bad time of year to ask for a large DHP. If there is an underspend they will be looking to use it for any old case before the end of this month because it goes back to central government otherwise and the underspend might well be noted down and used to inform future allocation decisions. But if the budget has already gone, now would not be a good time.
Thank you for your help HB Anorak. Do I need to wait for the Housing Benefit to be awarded until I apply for the Discretionary Housing Payment?
Yes, I think it would be stretching a bit too far to get a DHP without any HB entitlement at all at any time
Hello
We have a client who we have made an application for Housing Benefit for. It is likely that the Housing Benefit will only be backdated for one month as the client is of working age. However, the client moved into their property about three months ago. There was a delay in making the claim because we had problems obtaining the tenancy agreement. After Housing Benefit is awarded, could a Discretionary Housing Payment be made to pay rent for the period before the Housing Benefit is likely to be awarded for?
Thanks
In future (for the few HB claims that can be made), it would be best to get the application in, then any problems with evidence required, you can ask for an extension of time if you have problems. With current backdating limits for working age benefits, it would be best to always take this approach, as it protects the date of claim
Not according to the very clear case law (Natasha Gargett and Lambeth Council), but this is routinely ignored including by DWP in their DHP guidance. Local authorities are not officially discouraged from conjuring lump-sum DHPs out of thin air, despite the regulations (as confirmed in Gargett) saying that any DHP, whether it is paid from week to week, month to month or as a one-off, must be calculated by reference to a period in which there is a weekly/monthly shortfall between entitlement to HB or UC and the full rent. Nothing bad will happen if they do it.
Hi
I think the following is true:
A DHP can be awarded in respect of a period or for an immediate need.
If it is in respect of a period, then the claimant must have been in receipt of HB and/or UC in this period, the DHP should not exceed the eligible rent in that period, and it shouldn’t exceed the difference between the benefit received and the eligible rent in that period.
If it is for an immediate need, then it is not in reference to any period, so as long as HB or UC is in payment when the DHP is awarded, the DHP can exceed the eligible rent considerably.
If all the above is right then could a local authority award a DHP to cover any rent arrears as long as the award was treated as an awar for an immediate need, (e.g. as a pressing expense needed to be paid off in order to be able to access a housing association’s internal transfer list to get more spacious accommodation) rather than in reference to a particular period?
Let me know what you think?
Liam
Gargett
Good use of a one word reply! Shame i can’t reciprocate below…
So i stopped being lazy and read Gargett.
I have concluded that in the case of a claimant applying for a DHP for rent arrears that:
The claim is always treated as a claim for a ‘backdated DHP’ and is always calculated in respect of a period even though it is paid as a lump-sum payment, and thus:
(1) HB or UC has to have been payable in that period (Reg 5(2) DFA Regs 2001) (Para 5.24 DHP Guide Aug 2019)
(2) DHP cannot exceed the UC housing costs element (UC HCE) or the HB eligible rent for each week/month *in that period* (HB ER) (Reg 4 DFA Regs 2001) (Para 2.7 and 4.26 DHP Guide Aug 2019) (Gargett)
(3) Any HB (or UC HCE) already paid in respect of the period should be deducted so as to avoid duplicate provision (Para 4.27 DHP Guide Aug 2019) (Gargett)
I was getting myself confused as the DHP Guide refers to lump sum payments as payments that are not made in relation to a period (for example for deposits and advances). It says that in the case of deposits and advances, you only need to be satisfied that UC or HB is in payment when the DHP payment is made, that the eligible rent does not restrict the DHP, and even that a DHP can be made even if it is replicated by a future rental benefit if this cannot be avoided. I intepreted this as also applying to arrears, but i see now that this is not the case. (Never go by the guidance!).
However, as you say, the local authority is apt to award DHPs without much regard to case law, and thus might make a payment towards rent arrears even when my points (1) to (3) above do not apply. This happened in the case of one of my clients recently (their housing officer had made the application with them) and the DHP was awarded despite the arrears having accrued in a period when the client was not in receipt of HB. However - and here is the downside of the strategy of applying on the off chance the local authority makes a mistake - the local authority later realised this, and decided to recover the whole DHP. Leaving the tenant and their housing officers to celebrate and then rue their misfortune in the space of a few weeks…
Liam