Good morning Regular readers of our bulletins responded to our recent story about the tenant of Cairn Housing Association who received the backdate of £25,000 and weekly increase in his income of £66 per week. Many praised the efforts of the Tenancy Sustainment officer who had identified and diligently pursued the…

Good Morning I’ve been invited by Policy in Practice to participate in an event in London on 8th January 2020 which is focused on Managed Migration, Transitional Protection and the challenges, this last, and most critical stage of Universal Credit’s rollout, is likely to have on both claimants and their landlord organisations. DWP estimate, between 15-25%…

Good morning Recently, I have highlighted tenant case examples, where specialist RSL staff have helped tenants, successfully overcome obstacles, created by a DWP administration struggling to cope with the complexities, it’s created, in a benefits system, originally described as being “simplified, integrated & transformational”; it’s certainly, not fulfilling the hype,…

Good morning One of the features of the new website is a section called – Ask our experts for advice. Although it’s designed for website members only, I frequently receive contact from individual claimants, desperately looking for help. I attempt to answer every query myself, even if it’s simply to…

Good morning DWP wrote to me this week, confirming it would pay my landlord client £1500 in respect of 4 missing months “housing costs”, originally refused at the point his tenant moved from “live” to “full service” Universal Credit, earlier this year. The reason DWP gave for refusing payment was…

Good morning Although I spend a large part of my time dealing with Housing Benefit and Universal Credit queries and disputes, occasionally, I assist clients challenge Council Tax demands. Invariably, I’m able to resolve disputes with the Council concerned, but, on occasions, need to pursue the issue to a Valuation…

Good morning I’ve repeatedly encouraged private landlords to pursue complaints against DWP, concerning its abject failure to properly administer its Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) scheme and comply with the commitments it made to Parliament, in this respect. Some of you may recall my open letter to DWP’s Director General, Neil…

Good morning I was contacted by one of our Housing Association clients and asked to assist with a case concerning one of their tenants, who had been misled by her local council into claiming Universal Credit when, in fact, she was “ineligible”, due to the fact she qualified for the…

Good morning DWP has just made a “backdated” award of £3000 in Universal Credit “Housing Costs” to a Housing Association client of mine, fully clearing off rent arrears, that had been accruing, since February 2018, when their tenant was wrongly advised, by DWP, to cancel his Universal Credit claim. DWP…

Good afternoon The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) have just published its annual report for 2018/19. A large part of the report, not surprisingly, focuses on the final phase of Universal Credit’s Managed Migration exercise – and explains, in detail, the various exchanges it’s had, with both DWP and Parliament…