Guidance

S6/2022: Housing Benefit administration subsidy arrangements for English, Scottish and Welsh local authorities for the financial year ending March 2023

Updated 18 November 2022

Who should read

All Housing Benefit staff in England, Scotland and Wales. Officers preparing subsidy claims and estimates

Action

For information

Subject

Housing Benefit administration subsidy arrangements for English, Scottish and Welsh local authorities for the financial year ending March 2023

Guidance Manual

The information in this circular does not affect the content of the HB Guidance Manual.

Queries

If you:

• want extra copies of this circular/copies of previous circulars, they can be found on the Housing Benefit for local authorities: subsidy circulars page.

• have any queries about the:

  • general or technical content of this circular, contact lawelfare.lafunding@dwp.gov.uk
  • HB administration subsidy payment arrangements, contact hb.nonsubsidy@dwp.gov.uk
  • distribution of this circular, contact lawelfare.correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

Introduction

1. This circular contains final details of the distribution of the Housing Benefit Administration Subsidy (HBAS) for the financial year ending (FYE) March 2023.

2. Provision for the FYE March 2023 HBAS arrangements will be made by an Amendment Order to the Income-related Benefits (Subsidy to Authorities) Order 1998, which will be subject to consultation with the local authority (LA) associations (LAAs) prior to being laid in Parliament.

3. LAAs and LA representatives have been consulted regarding the distribution methodology.

Background

4. Following the abolition of Council Tax Benefit (CTB) and the introduction of Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) in April 2013, the funding baseline for HB/CTB has remained disaggregated. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for allocating the HB element to LAs and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Devolved Administrations is responsible for distributing the LCTS element to their respective LAs.

5. The FYE March 2023 HBAS allocation by country is:

• English LAs - £163.721 million
• Scottish LAs - £ 18.732 million
• Welsh LAs - £ 9.714 million

6. This funding is calculated by deducting the Universal Credit (UC) reduction from the FYE March 2023 HBAS, which is consistent with DWPs baseline funding.

7. For the FYE March 2023, no departmental efficiency reduction has been applied.

8. It should also be noted that given the latest estimate of Fraud & Error in Housing Benefit (£1 billion per annum, or 6% of expenditure) it remains a vitally important priority that HB awards are kept as accurate as possible.

UC rollout

9. The FYE March 2023 HBAS funding takes into account the estimated volume of HB claimants moving to UC. UC reductions of £0.133 million have been applied to the total amount of the FYE March 2023 HBAS for Great Britain. This is in addition to the £30.787 million deducted from the baseline in the FYE March 2022 which was a cumulative UC reduction value up to and including FYE March 2022. To note, DWP is resuming the managed migration of legacy claimants to UC this year (though the impact of this is not accounted for in these figures).

10. UC reductions are profiled across a number of financial years. The FYE March 2023 UC reductions continue to reflect current policies.

11. In previous years, fully forecasted caseloads have been used to apply UC reductions. FYE March 2023 allocations have used actual caseloads where possible. This has the effect that reductions are applied to the year after they are realised. The reduction applied this year is a small adjustment to bring the FYE March 2022 UC savings reductions into line.

Distribution methodology

12. This funding is a contribution to the cost of administering HB. DWP, in consultation with the LA Funding Group (which consists of LA Chief Finance Officers and LAA representatives), decided to change the methodology for allocating HBAS from the FYE March 2020 onwards.

13. The methodology uses HB caseload data and UC housing element caseload volumes. This combined total is used to determine the proportion of core HBAS allocated to each LA. The FYE March 2023 allocation is based on HB caseload data up to May 2021.

14. The UC reductions have been calculated based on the amount of HB Working Age caseload moving to UC. SHBE (Single Housing Benefit Extract) and UC data have been used to determine the expected change in workloads due to UC in the FYE March 2022 and these have been applied to the FYE March 2023 allocations.

15. Allocations are rounded to the nearest pound.

National funding for the FYE March 2023.

16. The table below details the total national funding level available for the FYE March 2023 compared to the FYE March 2022.

HB administration subsidy	FYE March 2022 (£million, rounded)	FYE March 2023 (£million, rounded)
HBAS allocation (previous year)	195.385	192.301
Less adjustment for UC	-3.084	-0.133
Less departmental efficiency reduction	-0.000	-0.000
HBAS funding level	192.301	192.168

17. Payments of HBAS will be made in 12 monthly instalments starting in April 2022. The overall subsidy available to support HB administration costs is cash-limited.

18. There is no provision for any adjustments to be made to individual LA allocations.

LA allocations – England

LA	Final FYE March 2023 DWP HBAS allocation (£)
Adur District Council	142,263
Allerdale Borough Council	275,870
Amber Valley Borough Council	295,168
Arun District Council	367,708
Ashfield District Council	344,022
Ashford Borough Council	302,185
Babergh District Council	168,964
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council	821,374
Barrow Borough Council	194,439
Basildon Council	547,457
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council	354,943
Bassetlaw District Council	293,503
Bath and North East Somerset Council	408,332
Bedford Borough Council	455,187
Birmingham City Council	5,036,992
Blaby District Council	137,059
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council	491,623
Blackpool Council	725,539
Bolsover District Council	221,390
Bolton Council	968,421
Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk	343,292
Borough of Broxbourne Council	243,977
Boston Borough Council	180,481
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council	1,120,454
Bracknell Forest Council	240,664
Braintree District Council	336,768
Breckland Council	293,214
Brent Council	1,466,154
Brentwood Borough Council	117,569
Brighton and Hove City Council	1,007,763
Bristol City Council	1,472,881
Broadland District Council	190,018
Bromsgrove District Council	149,407
Broxtowe Borough Council	219,498
Buckinghamshire Council	911,679
Burnley Borough Council	353,477
Bury Council	517,851
Calderdale Council	647,735
Cambridge City Council	293,369
Cannock Chase District Council	240,261
Canterbury City Council	368,030
Carlisle City Council	280,014
Castle Point Borough Council	163,901
Central Bedfordshire Council	492,759
Charnwood Borough Council	305,672
Chelmsford City Council	330,051
Cheltenham Borough Council	260,346
Cherwell District Council	289,325
Cheshire East Council	736,410
Cheshire West and Chester Council	864,180
Chesterfield Borough Council	360,562
Chichester District Council	255,320
Chorley Council	245,637
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council	1,579,824
City of Lincoln Council	339,695
City of London Corporation	44,537
City of Wolverhampton Council	995,208
City of York Council	369,585
Colchester Borough Council	421,539
Copeland Borough Council	205,174
Cornwall Council	1,595,325
Cotswold District Council	159,638
Council of the Isles of Scilly	1,587
Coventry City Council	1,012,665
Craven District Council	95,927
Crawley Borough Council	344,595
Croydon Council	1,520,693
Dacorum Borough Council	375,164
Darlington Borough Council	359,781
Dartford Borough Council	229,237
Derby City Council	767,219
Derbyshire Dales District Council	120,326
Doncaster Council	993,285
Dorset Council	842,935
Dover District Council	347,339
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council	907,240
Durham County Council	1,925,133
East Cambridgeshire District Council	154,719
East Devon District Council	278,968
East Hampshire District Council	174,083
East Herts District Council	255,951
East Lindsey District Council	442,563
East Riding of Yorkshire Council	658,558
East Staffordshire Borough Council	236,427
East Suffolk Council	629,843
Eastbourne Borough Council	370,293
Eastleigh Borough Council	239,512
Eden District Council	86,569
Elmbridge Borough Council	238,400
Enfield Council	1,557,778
Epping Forest District Council	259,990
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council	132,008
Erewash Borough Council	292,286
Exeter City Council	326,506
Fareham Borough Council	153,524
Fenland District Council	257,790
Folkestone and Hythe District Council	329,606
Forest of Dean District Council	195,147
Fylde Council	181,038
Gateshead Council	815,665
Gedling Borough Council	231,537
Gloucester City Council	358,170
Gosport Borough Council	225,318
Gravesham Borough Council	262,553
Great Yarmouth Borough Council	402,321
Guildford Borough Council	228,368
Halton Borough Council	514,897
Hambleton District Council	174,960
Harborough District Council	116,853
Haringey Council	1,351,119
Harlow Council	324,385
Harrogate Borough Council	277,310
Harrow Council	701,978
Hart District Council	104,359
Hartlepool Borough Council	463,964
Hastings Borough Council	425,209
Havant Borough Council	240,436
Herefordshire Council	409,761
Hertsmere Borough Council	257,823
High Peak Borough Council	201,366
Hillingdon Council	824,657
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council	190,659
Horsham District Council	226,793
Hull City Council	1,217,067
Huntingdonshire District Council	300,055
Hyndburn Borough Council	284,314
Ipswich Borough Council	448,775
Isle of Wight Council	425,496
Islington Council	1,424,810
Kirklees Council	1,211,098
Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council	686,734
Lancaster City Council	393,117
Leeds City Council	2,389,613
Leicester City Council	1,115,592
Lewes District Council	241,876
Lewisham Council	1,581,310
Lichfield District Council	176,721
Liverpool City Council	2,357,229
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham	836,848
London Borough of Barnet	1,307,985
London Borough of Bexley	593,131
London Borough of Bromley	762,017
London Borough of Camden	1,265,425
London Borough of Ealing	1,397,372
London Borough of Hackney	1,928,449
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham	966,191
London Borough of Havering	593,204
London Borough of Hounslow	956,859
London Borough of Lambeth	1,750,580
London Borough of Newham	1,493,428
London Borough of Redbridge	804,692
London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames	417,262
London Borough of Tower Hamlets	1,778,962
London Borough of Waltham Forest	943,762
Luton Borough Council	612,734
Maidstone Borough Council	348,907
Maldon District Council	112,896
Malvern Hills District Council	153,934
Manchester City Council	2,463,504
Mansfield District Council	335,557
Medway Council	719,073
Melton Borough Council	93,237
Mendip District Council	266,246
Merton Council	539,994
Mid Devon District Council	164,570
Mid Suffolk District Council	158,491
Mid Sussex District Council	223,701
Middlesbrough Council	646,935
Milton Keynes Council	755,366
Mole Valley District Council	152,552
New Forest District Council	332,112
Newark and Sherwood District Council	266,445
Newcastle City Council	1,225,959
Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council	291,558
North Devon Council	241,013
North East Derbyshire District Council	250,255
North East Lincolnshire Council	544,960
North Hertfordshire District Council	268,268
North Kesteven District Council	191,003
North Lincolnshire Council	441,948
North Norfolk District Council	241,228
North Northamptonshire Council	777,689
North Somerset Council	522,926
North Tyneside Council	695,529
North Warwickshire Borough Council	134,756
North West Leicestershire District Council	185,171
Northumberland County Council	890,002
Norwich City Council	572,113
Nottingham City Council	1,283,856
New Forest District Council	332,112
Newark and Sherwood District Council	266,445
Newcastle City Council	1,225,959
Newcastle-Under-Lyme Borough Council	291,558
North Devon Council	241,013
North East Derbyshire District Council	250,255
North East Lincolnshire Council	544,960
North Hertfordshire District Council	268,268
North Kesteven District Council	191,003
North Lincolnshire Council	441,948
North Norfolk District Council	241,228
North Northamptonshire Council	777,689
North Somerset Council	522,926
North Tyneside Council	695,529
North Warwickshire Borough Council	134,756
North West Leicestershire District Council	185,171
Northumberland County Council	890,002
Norwich City Council	572,113
Nottingham City Council	1,283,856
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council	355,785
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council	84,787
Oldham Council	824,037
Oxford City Council	394,803
Pendle Borough Council	244,209
Peterborough City Council	616,977
Plymouth City Council	924,289
Portsmouth City Council	821,696
Preston City Council	452,331
Reading Borough Council	509,498
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council	518,352
Redditch Borough Council	230,531
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council	265,646
Ribble Valley Borough Council	72,612
Richmondshire District Council	87,073
Rochdale Borough Council	830,165
Rochford District Council	127,979
Rossendale Borough Council	183,660
Rother District Council	228,313
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council	861,120
Royal Borough of Greenwich	1,307,046
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea	870,389
Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames	403,204
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead	251,991
Rugby Borough Council	225,081
Runnymede Borough Council	157,894
Rushcliffe Borough Council	154,126
Rushmoor Borough Council	257,448
Rutland County Council	54,471
Ryedale District Council	113,579
Salford City Council	1,061,697
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council	1,151,191
Scarborough Borough Council	355,633
Sedgemoor District Council	312,784
Sefton Council	940,319
Selby District Council	150,177
Sevenoaks District Council	223,713
Sheffield City Council	1,829,655
Shropshire Council	648,261
Slough Borough Council	456,003
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council	495,350
Somerset West and Taunton Council	413,740
South Cambridgeshire District Council	224,426
South Derbyshire District Council	166,381
South Gloucestershire Council	463,158
South Hams District Council	182,146
South Holland District Council	175,183
South Kesteven District Council	291,782
South Lakeland District Council	156,974
South Norfolk Council	233,831
South Oxfordshire District Council	220,219
South Ribble Borough Council	196,258
South Somerset District Council	392,758
South Staffordshire District Council	203,009
South Tyneside Council	721,917
Southampton City Council	905,864
Southend-On-Sea Borough Council	612,943
Southwark Council	1,709,720
Spelthorne Borough Council	202,454
St Albans City and District Council	244,942
St Helens Council	629,368
Stafford Borough Council	234,666
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council	143,252
Stevenage Borough Council	262,900
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council	690,740
Stockton-On-Tees Borough Council	625,680
Stoke-On-Trent City Council	895,588
Stratford-On-Avon District Council	239,075
Stroud District Council	224,347
Sunderland City Council	1,207,470
Surrey Heath Borough Council	120,065
Sutton Council	581,001
Swale Borough Council	410,698
Swindon Borough Council	556,730
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council	829,671
Tamworth Borough Council	193,031
Tandridge District Council	160,844
Teignbridge District Council	294,983
Telford and Wrekin Council	572,617
Tendring District Council	472,756
Test Valley Borough Council	227,791
Tewkesbury Borough Council	170,512
Thanet District Council	543,197
Three Rivers District Council	177,029
Thurrock Council	448,059
Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council	255,614
Torbay Council	501,889
Torridge District Council	158,023
Trafford Council	551,011
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council	231,871
Uttlesford District Council	129,857
Vale of White Horse District Council	223,015
Wakefield Council	1,088,399
Walsall Council	971,531
Wandsworth Council	1,230,066
Warrington Borough Council	510,958
Warwick District Council	255,693
Watford Borough Council	262,726
Waverley Borough Council	205,733
Wealden District Council	243,775
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council	316,894
West Berkshire Council	302,184
West Devon Borough Council	110,797
West Lancashire Borough Council	270,830
West Lindsey District Council	227,551
West Northamptonshire Council	814,620
West Oxfordshire District Council	186,895
West Suffolk Council	367,769
Westminster City Council	1,234,514
Wigan Council	968,052
Wiltshire Council	981,231
Winchester City Council	218,378
Wirral Council	1,185,103
Woking Borough Council	187,694
Wokingham District Council	181,608
Worcester City Council	252,544
Worthing Borough Council	270,765
Wychavon District Council	249,969
Wyre Council	275,756
Wyre Forest District Council	273,234
Total	163,721,490

LA allocations – Scotland

LA	Final FYE March 2023 DWP HBAS allocation (£)
Aberdeen City Council	616,058
Aberdeenshire Council	439,981
Angus Council	343,619
Argyll and Bute Council	251,827
Clackmannanshire Council	212,782
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar	53,924
Dumfries and Galloway Council	505,594
Dundee City Council	744,125
East Ayrshire Council	500,052
East Dunbartonshire Council	188,620
East Lothian Council	309,658
East Renfrewshire Council	156,065
City of Edinburgh Council	1,423,544
Falkirk Council	527,272
Fife Council	1,270,807
Glasgow City Council	3,459,027
Highland Council	639,612
Inverclyde Council	378,516
Midlothian Council	275,479
Moray Council	225,527
North Ayrshire Council	641,036
North Lanarkshire Council	1,331,915
Orkney Islands Council	43,823
Perth and Kinross Council	342,762
Renfrewshire Council	664,716
Scottish Borders Council	335,020
Shetland Islands Council	41,026
South Ayrshire Council	405,747
South Lanarkshire Council	1,079,037
Stirling Council	238,924
West Dunbartonshire Council	461,619
West Lothian Council	624,569
Total	18,732,283

LA allocations – Wales

LA	Final FYE March 2023 DWP HBAS allocation (£)
Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council	294,284
Bridgend County Borough Council	445,919
Caerphilly County Borough Council	601,441
Cardiff Council	1,191,654
Carmarthenshire County Council	504,118
Ceredigion County Council	172,543
Conwy County Borough Council	356,945
Denbighshire County Council	327,942
Flintshire County Council	388,432
Gwynedd Council	303,491
Isle of Anglesey County Council	191,345
Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council	215,906
Monmouthshire County Council	200,649
Neath Port Talbot Council	561,154
Newport City Council	546,073
Pembrokeshire County Council	358,352
Powys County Council	302,559
Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council	753,305
Swansea Council	862,474
Torfaen County Borough Council	364,308
Vale of Glamorgan Council	336,963
Wrexham County Borough Council	433,979
Total	9,713,836