Housing boss says rollout of universal credit must be slowed
● tinued use of crisis payments, which claimants now have to repay in six months rather than 12, adding further pressure.
Halton Housing accused the Department For Work And Pensions (DWP) of providing a ‘lack of communication’ and said this was having an extra impact on the trust and tenants.
An increase in arrears and bad debts also reduced the amount of cash available to build homes in the midst of a housing crisis as well as lower investment in existing housing stock.
The housing association has made five recommendations to the Work And Pensions Select Committee that it said could be ‘relatively easily addressed’.
The first is ‘people must be put before arbitrary rollout dates’ and the DWP should ‘actually apply their test and learn approach’ rather than sticking to a timetable.
Second, Halton Housing has called for a consistency of service, time scales, information and advice for claimants, underpinned by a transparent complaints process.
Its third recommendation is for a clear and ● ● simplified electronic payment system for tenants and landlords, the electronic payment process having already been halted due to a change in software supplier and no details provided to confirm whether the change had been completed.
Fourth is a call for the reasons for claimants to be notified of all deductions and the maximum deduction be reduced from 40% to 20%.
The fifth recommendation is for the acceleration of the rollout of the ‘landlord portal’ due to be online October 2018.
HHT’s review took place as the rollout of UC in Birmingham and Manchester is due to take place in October and November the trust said is keen to make further submissions to the Work And Pensions Select Committee on the impact of UC.
Nick Atkin, Halton Housing chief executive, said: “We support the overarching principle of Universal Credit.
“However, what has become clear is the introduction of the benefit cap, coupled with the fundamental systemic flaws within both its design and subsequent application need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
“We cannot sit back and watch as our customers and advice teams suffer with an ill thought out system and rollout plan that is only set to get worse.
“Some of the anecdotal case studies I hear from the team are truly frightening.
“We are using our experience and understanding over the last 15 months to call for improvements and a slow down of the roll out process until these have been implemented.
“As Christmas approaches, we know things are only going to get worse for our customers and we want to do whatever we can to continue to support them.
“As a landlord at the forefront of the UC Full Service rollout we have also developed a concerted campaign to highlight and share these concerns more widely, as a direct response to the major financial pressures our customers are now being forced to endure unnecessarily.”
Colin Keiley, Runcorn District Foodbank manager, said: “We have seen an increase in the number of people needing to use the Foodbank over the last year.
“The number of organisations requesting our vouchers has increased, and our distribution centres are a lot busier.
“Some people are saying that they are mortified they are having to come to foodbanks, but they feel as though they have no other choice.”