Dear colleague,

I wanted to share some recent updates on the UC migration cases highlighted in my earlier bulletin. The case began as a housing costs dispute, but it has now produced an important outcome on both the claimant’s legacy ESA award and their Universal Credit transitional protection.

What…

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A troubling Universal Credit case has exposed a potentially serious flaw in the way the Department for Work and Pensions deals with Managed Payments to Landlords where the Benefit Cap applies. The case concerns a private landlord, referred to here as Mr X, whose tenant built up around…

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The Issue being addressed

This case concerns a private landlord who died while receiving a Managed Payment to Landlord (MPTL) and third-party rent arrears deductions from a tenant’s Universal Credit. The tenant had already accrued substantial arrears, which was the reason payments had been redirected away from the tenant…

Morning A growing concern for private landlords

Over recent months, I have been dealing daily with Universal Credit cases where private rented sector landlords are struggling to secure, maintain, or restore Managed Payments to Landlords, even where tenants have significant rent arrears, and the landlord has provided evidence that the…

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Over recent months, I have been dealing with a growing number of cases where Universal Credit claimants are wrongly refused assistance with their housing costs element in situations involving family-owned or connected landlords. A recent case highlights several serious and recurring issues that members should be aware of.

…

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Many non-registered providers of SEA are currently facing a difficult operating environment, especially in parts of southern England. In several areas, administering councils have reduced or withdrawn what is commonly referred to as “Intensive Housing Management” (IHM) support for “exempt accommodation” delivered by NRPs. In practice, this is…

Dear colleague,

I wanted to share a recent Universal Credit case, which began as a housing costs query but uncovered much wider losses for a severely disabled claimant. It is a useful reminder that, in migration cases, the presenting issue may be only part of the problem.

Case

I am…

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I first wrote about this topic in November 2020.  Since then, several changes have occurred that should, in theory, assist claimants who are paid two monthly salaries in the same month, but in practice, the issue recurs all too frequently.

When the regulations were first introduced, claimants generally…

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Some of my most-read articles cover tenancies between relatives, where a Housing Benefit (HB) or Universal Credit (UC) housing-costs claim has been refused. In most cases, I can overturn the DWP or the Council’s decision as there is nothing unlawful or improper about renting to a family member…

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Just last week, a Housing Association (HA) sought advice on decanting 16 families from four blocks of flats into temporary accommodation for around three months to allow structural repairs. Several households receive Universal Credit (UC), and reassurance was requested that housing cost payments could continue for their permanent…