Response: Discretionary Housing Payments good practice manual

We welcome the opportunity to comment on the revised good practice manual for the use of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP). The budget for DHPs has been significantly increased following the changes to housing benefit set out in the 2010 Emergency Budget and Spending Review. Shelter has raised repeated concerns at the impact these reforms will have on low income households, who will be put at risk of debt, arrears and homelessness. These concerns were echoed by parliamentarians during the passage of the Welfare Reform Act, necessitating DWP to announce an additional £30 million per annum to support households affected by the size criteria and £75 million in 2013/14 and £45 million in 2014/15 for the overall benefit cap.