Liverpool City Council has begun a budget consultation on a proposal to make changes to Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP).
The council is facing unprecedented budget pressures which means that it has to find savings of £73M in 2023/2024, and further savings in the two following years.
DHPs provide financial help to low income and vulnerable households. DHPs assist residents in meeting shortfalls in state benefits by providing extra help with the cost of rent, thereby preventing rent arrears, protecting the tenancy and reducing the risk of homelessness.
DHP is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities receive an annual allocation every April. Local authorities can add to the funds from their own budgets and Liverpool has consistently provided additional funding of £1m from its own budgets in recent years. In 2021/2022 the government provided £1.65M in funding and the council added an additional £1m.
We are proposing to reduce the DHP funding by £1m by no longer providing additional council funding to the DHP budget. This will mean that the DHP budget will be based on the government annual allocation only.
This will result in less overall funding for DHP which will require the council to review its funding allocation rules so that it is provided to those that need it most.
If this proposal is not taken forward the council may have to find £1m savings somewhere else and this may result in some other services being stopped or reduced.
We’d like to hear your views on the proposal by completing a short online survey at https://liverpool.gov.uk/council/consultation-and-engagement/consultation/discretionary-housing-payment-funding-reduction-consultation/
Following consultation, a report will be sent to Budget Council to make a final decision in March 2023.
Any change will take place from April 2023.
