Discretionary payments

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP)

Each year the Government allocates Local Authorities a sum of money for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). We will consider making a DHP award where a household faces exceptional hardship, where financial difficulties are causing you exceptional hardship or maybe putting your home at risk.  It is a limited fund and unfortunately we cannot help everyone. We always expect you to have taken all reasonable steps to claim any income and benefits you are entitled to and to be taking reasonable steps to reduce your expenditure.

You can only apply for a DHP if you are in receipt of

  • Housing benefit  or
  • Housing element of Universal Credit

You can only apply for a DHP to help with housing related costs including those affected by:

  • the benefit cap
  • removal of the spare room subsidy in the social rented sector
  • Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates

You may get a DHP to cover housing costs for:

  • a rent shortfall
  • rent deposits
  • rent in advance if you need to move home

A DHP cannot cover

  • Council tax costs
  • Rent or rent arrears when you are not in receipt of housing benefit or element of Universal credit
  • Household expenses such as for gas, electricity, food and travel
  • Household goods such as furniture, cookers, fridges etc
  • Mortgage costs
  • Rent if you already receive full Housing Benefit or housing element of universal credit

If you need help with non-rent related costs please visit Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire Discretionary Fund (DDF) - Derbyshire County Council

You are strongly advised to seek help to find a long-term solution to meeting the gap. There is no guarantee that we will be able to help you now, or in the future. There are certain circumstances where we cannot make a discretionary payment, which is explained on the GOV.UK website.

Read our Discretionary Housing Payment policy to find out more Discretionary Housing Payment Policy (docx, 304kb)

Help us to make the decision quickly by supplying all your evidence with your claim. Read about evidence you might need and why (docx, 18kb).

Apply for a discretionary payment

Note : we can only process applications that are related to residency within South Derbyshire District Council. You can find your local council by entering your postcode here: Find your local council - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

Council Tax Discretionary Payment (Section 13a) 2024/2025

The Council has the ability to the reduce liability for Council Tax in relation to individual cases or class(es) of cases that it may determine where national discounts and exemptions cannot
be applied.

Examples for 2024/2025 could include if the new Council Tax Reduction Scheme has altered the amount of council tax reduction you receive, and you are facing financial hardship. Other examples include where you may be affected by flooding.

Read our 2024/2025 South Derbyshire S13A1C policy 24 - 25 (pdf, 164kb) to find out more.