Discretionary Housing Payments- What is the Max they can offer every month ?

gemmaking

For Discretionary Housing Payments, what is the max amount of payment they can offer a month? to topup the persons HB shortfall, so that it tops up their rent fall payment ?

Can they offer as much as £200- £300 a week? to top up your shortfall?


Eg, if the rent is £500, but their HB offered is £200, then they are -£300 short,

Can Discretionary Housing Payments be as much as £300? or they have limits /boundaries that they are willing to Not go above ?

I know this depends on many factors, but just checking if they have a max limit?


(Mr housing benefit officer user, I hope you see this question)

CIS

In theory 100% of the shortfall but its very very unlikely they would pay it.

HappyMJ

gemmaking wrote: »

For Discretionary Housing Payments, what is the max amount of payment they can offer a month? to topup the persons HB shortfall, so that it tops up their rent fall payment ?

Can they offer as much as £200- £300 a week? to top up your shortfall?


Eg, if the rent is £500, but their HB offered is £200, then they are -£300 short,

Can Discretionary Housing Payments be as much as £300? or they have limits /boundaries that they are willing to Not go above ?


(Mr housing benefit officer user, I hope you see this question)

There is no maximum but there is a limited amount in the pot so they may not pay anything at all...it's discretionary and your circumstances determines how much they are willing to offer. They will expect a tenant with such high rent to hand in notice immediately or at the earliest opportunity and find somewhere cheaper so may only pay for up to 2 months. They may also pay for rent in advance for a cheaper property if you need to move. They may also pay for 2 properties at the same time if you find somewhere cheaper and need to move before your notice expires. They may also lend you the money for the deposit if you need it too expecting the deposit back from your exisiting tenancy and/or to be paid back over the next 6 or 12 months. They'll have first claim on the deposit on the tenancy if you fail to repay it.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

If you got 50p Housing Benefit and your rent was £500 per week in theory they could pay £499.50 per week to make up the shortfall for any period they see fit.

It is discretionary so there are no set rules and each local authority will treat claims differently.

gemmaking

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

If you got 50p Housing Benefit and your rent was £500 per week in theory they could pay £499.50 per week to make up the shortfall for any period they see fit.

It is discretionary so there are no set rules and each local authority will treat claims differently.

as for sending proof, how fussy are they about it?

ie,if you dont have proof to send of expenses going out, then can they refuse?

have you heard cases of this ?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

When you deal with DHP claims day in and day out you get an idea of what reasonable household expenditure is. If someone puts down lots of debts and high outgoings they might ask for proof. If proof isn't provided then the claim might be withdrawn.

The claims I deal with we don't initially ask for proof- we only ask for proof if the expenditure doesn't seem right. Each Council will act differently according to their own office rules.

I phone each customer and go through their claim and ask what they are doing to reduce their outgoings (for instance if someone said paying their full rent will give them the breathing space to pay off some of their high interest debts so when DHP end they could afford the top up). I am always more inclined to award DHP where someone is working hard to clear debts, reduce outgoings or making efforts to downsize.

If someone spends £100 on SKY, £50 a week on fags, booze and gambling and £25 on their mobile phone then the solution to their financial problems is in front of them - cut your spending and you can pay your rent.

gemmaking

On the question "would you like us to contact your landlord to reduce the rent"



Do the housing benefits team like to do this, or prefer to avoid it? - phone the landlord to negotiate?

or they prefer the tenant doing this?

and lets say to this question, that you say NO,.... you would not like the HB team to contact the landlord, then does this look frowned upon by the department?

HappyMJ

gemmaking wrote: »

On the question "would you like us to contact your landlord to reduce the rent"



Do the housing benefits team like to do this, or prefer to avoid it? - phone the landlord to negotiate?

or they prefer the tenant doing this?

and lets say to this question, that you say NO,.... you would not like the HB team to contact the landlord, then does this look frowned upon by the department?

Reduce the rent from £500 to £200 a week...I can't see a landlord accepting that much of a reduction so I don't think it'll really make any difference what you answer to that question.