Discretionary Housing Payments

Introduction to Discretionary Housing Payments

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are extra payments which help you pay your rent if you’re already receiving Housing Benefit or housing cost payments from Universal Credit.

When you won’t get DHP

We won’t give you DHP payments:

• for service charges which aren’t covered by Housing Benefit
• when your Housing Benefit payments have been suspended
• towards your rent if you’re only entitled to Council Tax Support
• where you’re only receiving Second Adult Rebate
• to cover deductions made from your Housing Benefit claim to cover an overpayment

How much you’ll get

To make a decision about awarding DHP, we consider things like:

• your total income
• essential expenses, like gas or electric bills
• whether you have any savings
• whether there is anyone else in the household that can help financially
• whether you have any loans or debts still to pay
• whether you could re-arrange your finances to help the situation
• whether you or your family have any special circumstances like ill health or disability
• whether you have tried to improve the situation yourself

We’ll award DHP based on your circumstances and look at each case individually.

We’ll only award DHP on a short-term basis.

How we’ll pay

DHP is paid in with Housing Benefit payments.

If your application is successful, we’ll pay DHP to you. In some situations, we may pay it to your landlord instead.