Universal Credit: DWP to Share Tenant Data with Social Landlords

The DWP is to share tenant data with social landlords to simplify the administration of universal credit, it has been confirmed. The DWP said the new regulations would come into force on 13 February after 99% of social landlords responding to its consultation backed the proposals. Previously, social landlords were reliant on being informed by their tenants of any switch to the new benefits system, a situation that made it difficult to plan ahead and provide help for the new claimant. The new regulations will only apply to social landlords, including housing associations operating as charities, but not with private landlords - because they do not currently provide welfare support to tenants. Read more on 24dash.

New Research Underway Into Quality of Social Landlord Data

The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University is undertaking new research into whether social landlords’ tenant data is truly fit for purpose. The research will focus on two key areas – how good landlords think their data is and what they’re doing to improve and consolidate it. The principle aim of the research is to ascertain how landlords can adapt to the future demands of Direct Payments. CRESR will target local authority landlords, ALMOs and housing associations across England, Scotland and Wales and seek responses to a web-based questionnaire. The focus of the survey is on issues of data quality, management, access and utility. The survey questionnaire can be accessed at the CRESR website.