PEOPLE in greatest need of discretionary housing payments may not be getting them because of a lack of information from Ceredigion Council, an audit report has found.

The council administers the DHP scheme using money from the Department for Work and Pensions, but the report from the Wales Audit Office found that, while the council’s administering of DHP is “good”, there are problems with performance information which fails to show if those in most need are receiving the help.

While Ceredigion Council’s application process and its use of the funding available were praised in the report, it claims that there is inadequate information to show that the people who most need the DHP funding are receiving it.

The report says: “The council had paid out £207,000 of its DWP provision of £287,605, which represents 72 per cent of its allocation at the end of November 2014.

“This indicates that the council is positively trying to use DHP to support those who need it, but because of weaknesses in its performance information it is not certain that it is paying DHP to those in the greatest need.”

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