Benefits data and information requests

We get many requests under the Freedom of Information Act for information on how our DHP fund is spent, our caseload, exempt accommodation cases and so on.

Before you make your request, you may be able to find what you are looking for here.

Claims caseload

Housing Benefit

Claims caseload for housing benefit
Year	Pension age claims	Working age claims	Total
2022/2023	2610	2280	4890
2021/2022	2665	2685	5350
2020/2021	2736	3202	5938

Council Tax Reduction

Claims caseload for council tax reduction
Year	Pension age claims	Working age claims	Total
2022/2023	4372	4727	9099
2021/2022	4482	4757	9239
2020/2021	4615	4741	9356

For more information on our Council Tax Reduction scheme, visit our Council Tax Reduction page.

Performance

Our average processing times in 2022/23 were:

Day per claim: 17.8

Days per change of circumstances: 1.36

We were well within the government guidelines for processing times.

Exempt accommodation

For claims treated as exempt accommodation, the portion of our caseload is as follows:

Exempt accommodation claim numbers and payments
Year	Number of claims	Annual payments
2022/2023	804	£47,73701
2021/2022	718	£41,93217
2020/2021	680	£47,73701

We are not required to, nor do we split out costs between supported and exempt.

Discretionary Housing Payments

Discretionary housing payments and years
	2020/21	2021/22	2022/23
Awarded	376	158	231
Refused	217	151	299
Repeat application	66	21	4
Reconsidered	1	0	37
Rent shortfall	56	22	37
Under 35 restrictions	2	0	0
Universal Credit	156	88	133
Removal costs	8	8	17
Benefit cap	12	6	6
Bedroom tax	22	3	6
Rent in advance	89	26	22
Other	5	5	10
Average one-off	£893.26	£852.14	£870.99
Average ongoing per week	£73.80	£67.20	£54.90
Average duration	117	89 days	79 days

The main reasons for refusing DHP are claimants failing to provide evidence and information to support their applications or not meeting the eligibility criteria which can be found on our Discretionary Housing Payment webpage.