Universal Credit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effect of universal credit on landlords who have claimants as tenants; what the results were of the direct payment demonstration projects on the effect of paying housing benefit direct to tenants; and if he will reduce the two calendar month rent arrears trigger point before a landlord can go directly to his Department for direct payment. 

Steve Webb: Interim evaluation from the first six months of the Direct Payment Demonstration Projects was published in December 2013 and can be foundat: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265257/direct-payment-demo-figures-dec-2013.pdf   

DWP has developed three levels of safeguards for tenants and landlords based on findings from the Direct Payment Demonstration Projects and continuous improvements through our test and learn approach in live service. We make an initial judgment on each claim as to whether the claimant is at risk of default and if so, we can put them on managed payments immediately. In the majority of cases Direct Payments will apply and we have two safeguards in place:

(1) We will review the initial decision if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of one months rent.

(2) We will move to payment to the landlord if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of two months rent.