Why does Universal Credit leave so many claimants in rental arrears?

There was initially cross-party support for the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), which merges six benefits into one.

Those benefits were income support, job seeker’ s allowance, employment and sup - port allowance, housing benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit.

But there has been significant difficulties with the rollout, which taken together have left many people unable to pay their rent at the end of the month.

Unlike the older benefits, which were paid weekly or fo rt nightly, UC is like a salary, once a month in arrears.

This has presented many vulnerable people with the challenge of having to manage a monthly budget for the first time.

For some, this has been too much and when it comes to paying rent, they have already spent their monthly income.

Similarly, in many areas housing benefit was paid direct to landlords, but with UC it has often been paid to tenants instead.

This has too often resulted in rent not making it as far as the landlord.

Switching on to the benefit also leaves a delay of around five weeks without any income while claimants wait for their monthly-in-arrears UC payment to come on-stream.

For many, they have had to apply for an advance payment – in reality, an interestfree loan – usually significantly less than they would be used to for the same period.

And because they are then forced to repay this over six to 12 months, this puts them under further financial pressure.

Another unique aspect is that for the first time appli - cants must apply for a benefit themselves online.

But for many people who have never used a computer, this can cause added difficulties.