Direct Payment Pilot Landlords Revealed

Local authority and housing association partnerships have been named as the successful volunteers the Government plans to work with on pioneering demonstration projects that will see claimants in the social rented sector directly receiving monthly housing benefit payments and paying rent to landlords themselves for the first time. The demonstration projects, which will take place from June 2012 until June 2013, will test how claimants can manage housing benefit monthly payments ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit from October 2013. The projects will also look at the appropriate level of safeguards needed to help secure landlord income streams if tenants fall behind on their rent. The local authority and housing association partnerships named for the demonstration projects are:
*Southwark Council and Family Mosaic, London
*Oxford City Council and Oxford Citizens, (part of the) Greensquare Group, Southern England
*Shropshire Unitary County Council and Bromford Group, Sanctuary Housing and The Wrekin Housing Society, West Midlands
*Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council and Wakefield and District Housing, Northern England *Torfaen Borough County Council and Bron Afon Community Housing and Charter Housing, Wales
Each will be involved in testing out different elements of the project, including testing different trigger points when social landlords should receive direct payments if tenants fall into specified levels of arrears. The projects will also inform how best to communicate the changes to claimants, provide assistance with budgeting to successfully pay their rent, and support claimants and landlords experiencing financial difficulties. Read more on the DWP website.