Universal Credit Putting Claimants 'At Risk Of Eviction'

People who move onto Universal Credit are waiting nearly three months for payments - putting them at risk of eviction. The stark warning came from Croydon Council in south London, a key pilot area for the "full digital service" of Universal Credit and the constituency of the Housing Minister Gavin Barwell. Analysts have claimed millions will face overall cuts due to changes in "work allowances" under the new system. Mark Fowler, Croydon Council's director of welfare, told MPs on the Commons Work and Pensions Committee: "We have seen in Croydon, on average, it's about 12 weeks before any form of payment is awarded, which is creating considerable pressures as you can understand, and carries immediate potential for eviction as well." Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Renter Power

Politicians have been urged to take the concerns of tenants more seriously after research indicated that more than 100 MPs – including some in safe Tory seats – will represent renter-dominated constituencies in coming years. By 2021, assuming current trends continue, the number of MPs representing areas in which more people live in social housing or privately rented accommodation than own their own homes will have risen to 107 – from 65 in 2011 and 38 in 2001. The analysis, carried out by the campaign group Generation Rent, found that some constituencies would have to prepare for a particularly sharp rise in the number of renters casting their vote. Download the analysis from the Generation Rent website.

Bedroom Tax Is Top of List of Complaints in Clegg's Constituency

The first thing you see when you walk on to Liberty Hill in the Sheffield suburb of Stannington is a static CCTV camera. It keeps an eye on a cluster of social housing that residents say their MP Nick Clegg has never visited. His constituency of Sheffield Hallam is one of the country’s most well-off. It has only 1.5% unemployment. The CCTV is to counter anti-social behaviour. Yet in Stannington, residents’ concerns are not about each other but about Mr Clegg’s government. The hated Bedroom Tax is top of their list of complaints. There are 1,700 people in Sheffield Hallam hit by it. And because of its high concentration of council houses most are in Stannington. Clegg’s abrupt U-turn on the hated “spare-room subsidy” as his Government would have us call it has not gone down well here. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.