Official Statistics

Use of Discretionary Housing Payments: analysis of end-of-year returns from local authorities, data for April 2025 to March 2026

Published 9 July 2026

Applies to England and Wales

1. Main stories 

The main headlines about the use of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) for the financial year ending March 2026 based on information received from 300 out of 318 local authorities in England and Wales: 

1. In the financial year ending March 2026, local authorities had spent 107% of their combined allocations for the year, similar to 107% in the previous financial year ending March 2025. 

2. DHP spending varied between local authorities, with 12% of local authorities spending up to 95% of their allocation, 61% of local authorities spending more than 95% and up to 105% of their allocation and 27% of local authorities spending over 105% of their allocation.  

3. 287 local authorities submitted awards data, for these local authorities the total number of DHP awards given out in the financial year ending March 2026 was 129,600.  

4. 61% of DHP expenditure was attributed to a welfare reform, with Local Housing Allowance (LHA) accounting for the greatest share of expenditure (25%).  

5. 55% of DHP expenditure related to helping with ongoing rental costs, with a further 24% relating to short-term rental costs while a claimant was seeking employment or a move to alternative accommodation. The remaining 21% of DHP expenditure related to helping secure and move a claimant into alternative accommodation.

2. What you need to know  

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Funding is allocated to lower tier and unitary local authorities (LAs) and they have broad discretion to spend in line with their local priorities. This includes deciding how much will be paid and the length of the award. A DHP can be awarded to cover a rent shortfall, a rent deposit, rent in advance, or other costs associated with moving. 

The government provides funding to local authorities for DHPs. For the financial year ending March 2026, the government provided £100 million of funding for DHPs. In addition to the government contribution, LAs can top up their DHP funding so that their total DHP expenditure is a maximum of two and a half times this figure using their own funds. 

LAs are encouraged to manage their DHP budget, therefore the level of DHP spending does not necessarily reflect the level of demand for DHPs. 

These statistics cover the period of April 2025 to March 2026 which is the financial year ending March 2026. The findings are based on returns from 300 out of 318 local authorities. The findings in each publication cannot be directly compared to other publications as different local authorities, with varying characteristics of spending patterns, respond in each release.   

Further guidance on these statistics is provided in the “More information” section of this publication and in the background information and methodology document.

3. How much of their DHP funding did local authorities spend?    

In the financial year ending March 2026, the local authorities who submitted a return spent £101 million on DHPs which represents 107% of their combined government allocations. This is consistent with the previous financial year ending March 2025 where responding local authorities had spent £106 million which also represented 107% of their combined allocations. Caution should be taken when comparing expenditure to the previous year as different local authorities, with varying allocations and past spending characteristics, responded in each year.  

Welsh local authorities spent 106% of their combined allocations in the financial year ending March 2026, which is a slightly lower proportion than that spent by reporting English local authorities (107%). 

Although not all local authorities who respond provide awards data, 287 did provide this information. Those that provided information on the number of awards made 129,600 awards to claimants in the financial year ending March 2026. For the local authorities that provided this information, the total expenditure on DHPs was £98.7 million. While this suggests that the average DHP award was around £760, this figure should be treated with caution, since there are a variety of different types of DHP awards (for example, a single DHP award to cover a deposit is likely to have a different value to a DHP award paid on a weekly or monthly basis).

61% of local authorities spent over 95% and up to 105% of their allocation

Local authorities varied in the proportion of their DHP government allocation that they had spent during the financial year ending March 2026, with 12% of local authorities spending up to 95% of their allocation and 27% spending over 105%. Over half (61%) of local authorities spent between 95% and 105% of their allocated funding: that is, they spent broadly in line with their allocated funding.

In the previous financial year, ending March 2025, the pattern of spending showed a similar proportion (26%) of reporting LAs spending over 105% of their allocation, whilst a higher proportion (18%) spent up to 95% of their allocation. 56% of reporting LAs spent between 95% and 105%.

In 2025 to 2026, just over 4 in 10 reporting local authorities spent between 99% and 101% of their allocation

To focus on those local authorities that spent above 95% and up to 105% of their allocation in the financial year ending March 2026, 127 spent more than 99% and less than or equal to 101% (i.e. very close to 100% of their allocation). This is 42% of local authorities that provided a return; of these, 36 local authorities reported spending exactly their allocation.

In the previous financial year, ending March 2025, 117 LAs spent more than 99% and less than or equal to 101%, 37% of all local authorities who provided a return. Slightly more local authorities, 38, reported spending their allocation.

Local authorities in the West Midlands spent the highest proportion of their combined allocations while local authorities in London spent the least

There was some variation in expenditure by region, with local authorities in the West Midlands spending the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (123%) and local authorities in London spending the least (101%).

In the previous financial year ending March 2025, local authorities in West Midlands had also spent the greatest proportion of their combined allocations (114%) with local authorities in the North East spending the least (101%). Caution should be taken when drawing comparisons between years since different LAs, with differing spending characteristics, within each region may have responded in each year.

4. How much was spent on each welfare reform

61% of DHP expenditure was related to welfare reforms

61% of DHP expenditure was recorded as related to welfare reforms (for local authorities who provided the information). Of the expenditure related to welfare reforms, LHA reforms were recorded as being responsible for the largest proportion of DHP expenditure, 25%, followed by the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) (20%), a combination of welfare reforms (8%) and the Benefit Cap (8%). Around 39% of DHP expenditure was reported as not related to welfare reforms.

In the previous financial year ending March 2025, a similar proportion (61%) of DHP expenditure was recorded as being related to welfare reforms. In previous years, RSRS has been reported as the largest welfare reform expenditure category.

5. What DHPs were awarded for

Around £54 million (55%) of expenditure was related to on-going rental costs

Of the LAs who reported expenditure by purposes, around £54 million (55%) of reported expenditure was related to on-going rental costs. Around a further £20 million (21%) was reported as related to helping secure a move to alternative accommodation. The remaining 24%, around £24 million, was spent on short-term rental costs while a claimant was seeking employment or a move to alternative accommodation.

In the previous financial year, ending March 2025, a greater proportion (59%) of reported expenditure by purpose was due to ongoing rental costs, with a smaller proportion (19%) spent on moving a claimant to alternative accommodation.

6. More information

DHP government funding

DHP government funding for the financial year ending March 2026 is £100 million. This funding is allocated to lower tier and unitary LAs across England and Wales. More information about funding levels over time can be found in Table 1 in the data tables document of this statistics release. 

Welfare reforms

Since the welfare reforms in 2011, the government has significantly increased its contribution to DHPs. This is so that local authorities can support those affected by the Benefit Cap, RSRS and reforms to the LHA. The background information and methodology document provides more detail.

Data source

At the midpoint and end of each financial year, local authorities provide details of their DHP expenditure for financial accounting purposes, which they are legally required to do. 300 out of 318 local authorities provided this information in time for inclusion within these statistics.

In addition to financial information, local authorities are also asked, at the mid-point and end of each financial year, to provide additional monitoring information. Not all local authorities supply some or all of the monitoring information requested. Of the 300 local authorities that submitted a return, 287 gave information about the number of DHP awards they gave out so far in the financial year, while 285 provided a breakdown of expenditure by welfare reform and a breakdown of expenditure by purpose of DHP. More information about both the financial information and monitoring information provided in returns can be found in the background information and methodology document.

Release schedule

These Official Statistics are released biannually. This current statistical release presents a summary of the end of year returns that include both financial and monitoring information. They cover April 2025 to March 2026 which is the financial year ending March 2026.

Following the launch of the Crisis and Resilience Fund in England, which replaced DHPs, the next release in this series will cover Welsh local authorities only and be based on mid-year financial and monitoring returns in the period April to September 2026. It will be published in December 2026.

Status

These statistics are official statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards by email to: dhp.returns@dwp.gov.uk.

Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the Office for Statistics Regulation website.

7. Where to find out more

These statistics are released as part of a series of Discretionary Housing Payment statistics.

Information about Discretionary Housing Payments, including how to claim them, can be found here.

8. Contact information

Responsible Analyst: Nathan Kelly

Email: Nathan.Kelly@dwp.gov.uk

Author: Noah Whiteman

Email: Noah.Whiteman@dwp.gov.uk

For media enquiries please contact the DWP Press Office.

Published: 09 July 2026

Next edition: December 2026