Lead Member: Councillor Susan Brown, Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services.

The Executive Director for Organisational Development & Corporate Services has submitted a report which seeks approval for the maintenance of the existing Discretionary Housing Payment policy.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

Approve the maintenance of the existing Discretionary Housing Payment Policy.

The Executive Director for Organisational Development & Corporate Services submitted a report which sought approval for the maintenance of the existing Discretionary Housing Payment policy.

Councillor Susan Brown, Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services spoke the report reminding members of the Board that this was an annual exercise. On this occasion the report was unremarkable as no changes to the present policy were proposed.  In discussion it was noted that a combination of factors (notably the introduction of Universal Credit and the 6 week delay between its allocation and the time of application) were serving to drive poorer members of the community further into poverty, perpetuating the cycle of deprivation.

The City Executive Board resolved  to:

Approve the maintenance of the existing Discretionary Housing Payment Policy.

The City Executive Board (CEB) on 16 October would be asked toapprove the maintenance of the existing Discretionary Housing Payment policy. This item provided an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the Board.

The Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services, Councillor Brown, and Paul Wilding (Revenues and Benefits Programme manager) joined the meeting for this item.

Councillor Brown introduced the report. She reminded members of the Committee that this was an annual report and, on this occasion, relatively straightforward as it did not propose any changes to the present policy.

The reduction in the number of customers in receipt of Discretionary Housing Payements (DHP) reflects a positive outcome for customers who have been able to engage with the Welfare Reform Team and so able to address some of their financial pressures in a variety of ways.

Local Authorities have discretion to top up the money available for DHP but the present scheme and associated budget are considered sufficient for the purpose. It is, nonetheless, being kept under review. There was good justification for those few decisions made to turn down applications.

The Committee had no recommendations to make to the CEB in relation this report.

The Chair thanked the Board Member and officer for their contribution to the discussion.