Landlord Reveals Findings Of Direct Payment 'Pilot'

A housing association is calling for changes to Universal Credit, after its unofficial ‘pilot’ showed tenants receiving housing benefit payments direct are more likely to fall into arrears. Circle Housing has now published the findings of research, undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University, which tracked how tenants are likely to cope under the government’s flagship welfare reform. Circle’s HB2U scheme piloted paying 349 tenants their housing benefit directly, instead of to their landlord. The results showed that rent collection rates fell 4.1 percentage points to 96.8% for the 349 tenants who received their housing benefit directly. Rent arrears also increased to 2.5%. Read more on Inside Housing.