Evictions and use of foodbanks on the rise due to Universal Credit
FOODBANK use, rent arrears and evictions are all going up in Hinckley and Bosworth borough because of universal credit according to a council report.
Rent arrears among council tenants are up 15 per cent from £749,297.47 to £881,062.38 since the new benefit was introduced in March 2017 according to the Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council report.
The latest figures show there are 259 council tenants claiming universal credit and they owe £289,464.66 between them.
Council staff expect the debt levels to carry on increasing for a combination of reasons, one of them the roll out of universal credit. The long wait between applying and the first payment is making money management difficult for tenants, especially new claimants already in rent arrears.
According to the report tenants will face legal sanctions, the first step towards eviction, much sooner than before, to reduce the overall amount of rent owed to the council.
The report says: “Eviction remains the last resort for the housing service. Unfortunately rising tenant debt levels, lack of tenant engagement and the need to ensure that the Housing Revenue Account remains at a sufficient level to ensure business continuity and development increasingly results in legal sanctions being pursued.”
The council is employing an extra rent collection and recovery officer. The two existing ones will have all their responsibilities taken away apart from rent collection.
At the same time there has been a fall in the number of private landlords prepared to take on tenants claiming universal credit.
This year has also seen 33 per cent of people in the Hinckley area using food banks compared with a 13 per cent rise nationally. That hasn’t been matched by donations which have increased by only 25 per cent.
Council staff have increased the number of foodbank vouchers they hand out by 41 per cent compared with last year which the report puts down to more people claiming universal credit.
The report, written for the scrutiny commission, concludes: “Impact of universal credit is falling on those residents who have a need to claim benefit and who in a large number of cases have other issues which need to be addressed and supported.
“The impact is increasing levels of poverty and hardship, certainly within the short term.”
Cllr Matthew Lay (Lab, Markfield, Stanton and Field Head) chairman of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s scrutiny commission said: “It concerns me greatly that as we approach the Christmas holiday, so many families in this Borough and in the town of Hinckley are facing such dire circumstances and the prospect of very real absolute poverty.
“In a relatively affluent town and borough this is beginning to resemble a modern day scandal.