Just to add my tuppence to this discussion. The way that DPs are paid and underspends are clawed back clearly varies wildly between LAs. We are “lucky” in Perth and Kinross that the connections between SW, SDS team and finance do not seem to be very tight, so people end up with a lot of flexibility. We have an equivalency system like many, with DPs paid into designated bank accounts every 4 weeks. I have seen very few instances of people have money clawed back - it does happen, but there is no timeframe or system of doing this automatically so it is presumably at the request of the LA - and there are a lot of people sitting with considerable amounts of money in their SDS account. This is fine if they are able to spend it, but it does also cause people quite a bit of stress, so it’s a double-edged sword in some ways. Sadly, because people do not feel empowered to be responsible for using their budget, they can feel a bit “rabbit in the headlights” about spending the money.
I suspect that most DP agreements are old documents designed to cover all bases for the LA and that the are not necessarily specific to current policy/practice. That certainly feels like it is the case in P&K. For a lot of people, that will be absolutely fine, as long as they are receiving their money. I haven’t heard of another LA which adjusts the level of the DP, but that would certainly change the game here.