Good morning, You may recall, I wrote to you initially in November 2015, following the Chancellor’s autumn statement, which, amongst other things, raised the prospect of social landlord tenancy charges being restricted to Local Housing Allowance rates for all new tenancies created from April 2016 – effective from 2018. The…

Good morning, One of the most common questions I’m asked when doing our training sessions http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/training is – how will claimants exist with no money between their last payment of legacy benefits until Universal Credit’s first payment kicks in 5/6 weeks later? The answer lies in what are known as…

Good morning, A common question I receive nowadays, from my Housing Association clients, relates to the recent change (from 3rd August, 2015) whereby in “new” claims for Universal Credit, the claimant has to wait 7 days before his eligibility to UC will start. Some of you are clearly under the…

Good morning,   Our website www.ucadvice.co.uk and related services are utilised by just under 1000 registered RSL users, with the numbers steadily increasing as the rollout of Universal Credit expands throughout GB.   Each month we issue a number of UC updates, through our bulletins. Some of the more recent ones…

Good morning, Both Leigh Day & Public Law solicitors have reported that the Supreme Court has granted permission, to their 5 adult clients, all adversely affected by “Bedroom Tax” penalties, to take their appeals to the highest court of appeal. Permission was granted, following last year’s Court of Appeal decision,…

Good afternoon, As I’m sure you’ve already heard, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his Autumn Statement to Parliament announced: “Capping Housing Benefit in the social rented sector – The government will apply the relevant Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates as maxima for Housing Benefit paid in the social…

Good afternoon, You’ll find in the following link http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/training/universal-credit-the-key-risks-to-direct-payments-rent-collection-arrears-control-debt-recovery-explained details of a course, located in the Abode Hotel, Glasgow on Wednesday 13th January 2016. The course has been specifically tailored for Social Landlord staff and will explore the many hidden complexities and relative dangers of Universal Credit which will impact on your tenants; your…

Good morning, I wrote to you recently advising of our training course in Manchester http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/training/universal-credit-the-key-risks-to-direct-payments-rent-collection-arrears-control-debt-recovery-explained We have since added a further date in Edinburgh, will shortly announce one in central London, and responded to a number of in-house requests for the same programme. Both advertised courses have already attracted sufficent interest…

Good afternoon, One of my latest bulletins explained the new E-mail process for making E-secure applications for “Alternative Payment Arrangements” (APAs) http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/2015/07/universal-credit—new-e-mail-apa-application-process-introduced-from-today Whilst the news was welcomed by RSLs a number have since written to explain that most of the problems being encountered are due to DWP maladministration issues (lengthy delays…

Good morning, My most recent bulletin commented on the Chancellor’s budget, and, in particular, the Treasury’s early release, covering the headline changes. The full Budget Report, which provides the detail, is now available, and can be found here. One of the most significant points to note is at 1.140. It confirms…