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A disabled claimant found himself homeless and destitute as a direct result of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) administrative shortcomings, apparent lack of understanding and empathy towards vulnerable individuals.

I was approached recently by a 58-year-old man, desperate for help after becoming homeless and penniless, and…

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Housing officers, welfare rights advisers, and financial inclusion staff frequently enquire about the expected timescales for responses from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or local councils regarding Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) requests or Housing Benefit appeals. Unfortunately, there are no statutory or formally prescribed timeframes for these…

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The issue outlined below is a recurring theme in the Universal Credit (UC) journals of thousands of tenant claimants across England, and to a lesser extent in Scotland & Wales. This is evident from the numerous emails received from landlord clients. The rejection of “housing costs” occurs both…

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Some of you may recall reading an earlier bulletin concerning a Housing Benefit success, where West Granton Housing Co-operative (WGHC) successfully challenged a housing benefit refusal for one of its elderly residents. Earlier this year, the Co-op found itself navigating another complex case for one of its…

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Key HA was recently mentioned in a case involving one of its Supported Housing tenants, who, with Key’s help, succeeded in securing a backdate, involving £000’s, which it used to clear rent arrears. Fuelled by that success, they contacted me about another of their tenants whose award…

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As part of our programme of Universal Credit & Housing benefit-related courses, we have arranged three new dates, two of which will be held in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh. Each course is designed to improve the knowledge of frontline staff, tasked with assisting tenants to tackle…

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Our clients at Albyn Housing Association have demonstrated, for the 2nd time in recent months, the importance of assisting tenants to maximise entitlement to housing costs. Details of the earlier case can be found here

On this occasion, a Housing Officer (HO) assisted a tenant in claiming…

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This article was published yesterday in Landlordzone News. It concerns a private landlord operating in the Manchester area, whose tenant failed to report Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rent increases following the issue of Section 13 (rent increase) notices in 2020 and 2024, when the Government increased the…

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Most Council and Housing Association rent control teams rely, at least partially, on rent deductions (Third-Party Payments) or the threat of them being applied, from their tenants’ state benefits, to help manage rent arrears and minimise the need for repossession actions. Some tenants accrue multiple debts that could…

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Last week, I represented my client Miss X at a First-tier tribunal, concerning DWP’s refusal to award “housing costs” for the property she occupied, and which was purchased, in September 2023, specifically for her use by her parents. Her need for accommodation started in…