Tackling surge in rent arrears
change manager for housing, customer and building services told the meeting: “The whole premise behind Universal Credit was that tenants would manage money themselves. Historically, where tenants have struggled to pay their rent we apply for direct payment.
“Whereas we used to have a working relationship with the DWP in that when someone claimed housing benefit we signed off on what were their costs for housing, we are now cut out of the process [of tenants moving on to UC] and generally don’t become aware until they stop paying their rent.”
The council can often lose three-anda-half months in rent and when the tenant eventually receives the threeand-a-half months of benefits payments there are urgent competing demands for payments.
Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan said she understood the delay in payment had been cut to five weeks.
Ms Kelly said the slightest change in circumstances for a tenant meant they had to restart the whole online application again.
Even an error in figures, such as not knowing how much your weekly rent is, can lead to a restart of the entire application process for Universal Credit, further delaying payment and building up arrears.
“It’s creating a lot of problems for people who don’t have a lot of money in the first place,” she added.
The complexity of the process has also taken time for housing officers working with tenants struggling to sort through applications. The earlier that staff can work with tenants the better chance they have of stopping tenants falling into arrears.
It’s creating problems for people who don’t have a lot of money