What is Universal Credit; how will it affect tenant incomes and your organisation's critical revenue from rents?

Universal Credit should, by September 2024, replace the assistance, currently offered by Housing Benefit for the majority of your "working age" tenants. Todate, the rollout of the new scheme has been fraught with problems, for both tenants and landlords alike. Most landlords have experienced Rent Arrears, mainly caused by the 5 week delay in making the first payment to tenants and DWP's use of processes & systems not yet fit for purpose. The extent of loss experienced can be partially related to to just how well informed, hands-on & effective, your staff is, advocating on your tenants' behalf. During the next 4 years, DWP plans to add a further 4.5 million claimants. This will prove the most challenging phase of Full Service rollout. Our specialist advice is focused purely on how landlords can best mitigate potential losses, both for tenants and your organisation's income management. With our help, you can learn how to anticipate & tackle potential pitfalls; maximise your rental streams; minimise rent arrears and the costs associated with recovery action.

Courses for Housing Associations & Councils

We offer bespoke courses for Housing Association & Council staff, designed to improve their understanding of the component parts of the new scheme; how best to maximise entitlement for your tenants; and avoid unnecessary rent arrears. We're also very much involved in the Private Rented sector and are retained by the NRLA to provide advice, support & training to its 80,000 members. Our courses are very practical, participative in nature & very affordable. Our testimonials confirm just how effective they are viewed by delegates. You'll find examples of current courses on the site. We we can also offer variations, based on your preferences and priorities. Contact us to find out what we can offer your business.

Courses for Private Landlords

Most courses are delivered in hotel facilties in regional centres. Our courses with the NRLA are similarly run in regional hubs. However, increasingly, we're asked to deliver face-to-face sessions for individuals or groups of landlords and/or Letting Agents) anxious to access the critical information, and ensure the training is bespoke and delivered locally, thus avoiding costly travel and overnight expenses. The cost can also be shared between the organisations

Universal Credit Full Service is now operating in your area!

UC Full Service has been operating throughout the UK since 2018. As the rollout of the "Natural and "Managed Migration" phases expand, more & more of your tenants will transition from Housing Benefit (LHA) to Universal Credit. If you haven't already gathered, the new scheme is quite different to HB/LHA, not least because of DWP's administration. So it’s important you act now to familiarise yourself with the key elements of the scheme, what’s expected of both tenants & landlords, otherwise you’re almost certainly going to experience a significant loss of rental income