Explainers
Discretionary Housing Payments
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) have been devolved since April 2017 and provide support with their housing costs to people on low incomes. To be eligible for a payment claimants must be in receipt of either Housing Benefit or Universal Credit with a housing costs element.
The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities who administer the payments. The budget is split into two parts.
The first is demand-led and dedicated to the mitigation of the bedroom tax. The Scottish Government funds all of these payments and our forecast shows how much this is expected to cost.
The second part is a discretionary fund for all other DHP claims. The Scottish Government has set this budget for this at £10.9 million in 2021-22. This budget is split between the local authorities at the start of the year. We assume this budget will be fixed over the forecast period and do not assess whether the funding level is reasonable.
Forecast spending for Discretionary Housing Payments
| £ million | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bedroom Tax mitigation | 63 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 77 |
| Other DHPs | 18.6 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 | 10.9 |
| Total | 81 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 88 |