Good morning

For the 2nd time in less than 1 year, DWP’s Universal Credit “Migration” rules, relating to severely disabled claimants, have been ruled “discriminatory” by the High Court.

In an earlier bulletin I explained how two appellants, referred to as TP & AR, had secured compensation for the…

Good morning

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) recently published its report – “The Computer says “No!”

The report examines DWP “decision making” and, in particular, the associated quality of “ benefit notifications” sent to claimants. It includes case studies and analysis, from CPAG, which highlight serious misgivings about the…

Good morning

The “Managed” or forced migration of a further 3 million “legacy benefit” (e.g. JSA, ESA, Housing Benefit, Tax Credits) claimants to Universal Credit starts in Harrogate from July 2019, expanding to other (yet unannounced) areas during the next 12 months. Currently, there are more than 2 million recipients…

Afternoon

As you may already have gathered, the first stage of the Universal Credit, rent updating exercise, has not gone as well as hoped. I discovered this when several of my clients started emailing and phoning on Tuesday, having received, in some cases, 200+ demands for verification via their portals…

Good morning

More than 5 years after Universal Credit was first launched, SRS landlords are still desperately waiting for DWP to produce a satisfactory automated solution to the annual rent up-rating exercise, something they’ve been accustomed to via Councils and Housing Benefit. DWP published its latest guidance and related…

Good morning

One of my Housing Association clients notified me, just the other day, they’d won a Housing Benefit dispute with their local council, producing a £3000 Housing Benefit back-payment, wiping out their tenant’s rent arrears and, just as importantly, preventing her premature migration to Universal Credit, which would have…

I’ve had some reaction to yesterday’s bulletin, from a number of housing associations who have been advised by DWP that they will not accept notification, until after the change has occurred. So, in the case of a rent charge, effective from 1st April 2019, DWP is maintaining, at least,…

My 10th February bulletin mentioned DWP was still deliberating on how best to handle the annual up-rating of rents exercise, in the Social Rented Sector, but hoped to confirm its position by 21st February. Regrettably, its position remains unsettled but it has made the following statement:

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DWP has only recently published its latest
newsletter addressed to social & private landlords. You can find it here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-landlord-engagement-newsletters/february-2019-universal-credit-landlord-engagement-newsletter

I have extracted some elements, which should be of particular
interest and assistance to private landlords, engaged in providing
accommodation to tenants, currently relying on LHA,…

Good Morning

DWP’s latest Landlord newsletter refers to “untidy tenancies” and explains how, in some cases, DWP’s “Decision Maker” may exercise discretion, regarding the amount of “housing costs element” allowed in cases of separation etc. to permit a joint tenant to be able to meet the contractual rent and remain…