I am writing to make a Freedom of Information request concerning your Council’s expenditure on Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) for the 2019/20 financial year.

I am aware some information on DHPs is submitted to the Department for Work & Pensions in its analysis of End of Year returns from local authorities. This includes the total number of awards, DHP financial expenditure and Government contribution original allocation. These monitoring returns provide details of the purpose of the DHP award, such as to secure and move to alternative accommodation and rental costs, split by the welfare form for which households have been affected.

What is not included in this information is the amount and value of DHPs applied for which are not awarded, or if only partial amounts are given. I am requesting this information, as detailed in Table 1 attached, and also request splits of this data by the age band of the claimant. If possible, please can the figures just for those where the claimant is aged between 16 and 30 be provided.

Separately, I am requesting information on your Council’s use of rent guarantee schemes: these are typically used to help people facing homelessness by providing a written guarantee to the landlord to cover any unpaid rent/damage. The information I require is written below, but also in the attached file:
. Total amount of rent guarantees issued in 2019/20
o How many rent guarantees were issued to care leavers
o Age bands of those issued rent guarantees

See attached file