Information and figures on welfare reform, discretionary housing payments and council tax support claims.

Social sector size criteria

This came into effect on 1 April 2013.

Residents considered to be under-occupying their home by one bedroom have a 14% deduction in the rent we use to work out their housing benefit.

Residents considered to be under-occupying their home by two or more bedrooms have a 25% deduction in the rent we use to work out their housing benefit.

  Number of cases affected in Rushmoor Under occupying by one bedroom (14% deduction) Under occupying by two or more bedrooms (25% deduction)
April 2018 319 278 41
April 2019 285 245 40
April 2020 233 201 32
April 2021 213 182 31
April 2022 197 169 28
April 2023 176 149 27

In some cases, we have used discretionary housing payments to support residents affected by the changes - see the information below on discretionary housing payments for more details.

Benefit cap

The benefit cap came into effect on 15 July 2013 and applies nationally.

  Number of cases affected in Rushmoor
April 2018 89
April 2019 97
April 2020 57
April 2021 37
April 2022 23
April 2023 21

As with the social sector criteria, in some cases, we have used discretionary housing payments to support residents affected by the change.

Discretionary housing payments (DHP)

  Total discretionary housing payment allocation Total discretionary housing payment allocated/paid
2022/23 £160,572 £160,248.07
2021/22 £226,555 £226,303.35
2020/21 £292,051 £291,985.13
2019/20 £214,996 £213,169.99
2018/19 £226,135 £225,209.18

 

Type of discretionary housing payment  2022/23 2021/22 2020/21 2019/20 2018/19
Number of DHP applications Approved 431 411 359 275 351
Refused 125 109 60 109 40
Reason for DHP Benefit cap 22 38 29 13 47
Social sector size criteria 112 121 75 39 65
Local housing allowance reform 90 95 37 24 31
Not related (including Universal Credit) 207 156 218 199 208
Average spend £372 £551 £813 £775 £788

For more information on discretionary housing payments, see our Types of benefit available page.

We aim to refresh this data at the end of each quarter.

If you would like more information, please contact our Freedom of Information team using the contact details on this page.


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