Universal Credit continues to rollout

The latest list of areas to receive the controversial benefit has been announced by the Department for Work and Pensions. DWP has revealed the next local authority areas whose jobcentres will introduce the change in payments between May and July this year.

Related topics:  Landlords
Warren Lewis
27th January 2015
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Among those areas included in the 'second tranche' are Cornwall and Bournemouth. The DWP made its announcement with regards to the first part of the rollout last month, initially highlighting 150 sites.

Universal Benefit, which merges housing benefit and five other existent benefits into a single monthly welfare payment, is already available in parts of England and was rolled out in parts of Greater Manchester and Cheshire in 2013.

One of the biggest changes will be the end of housing benefit payments direct to landlords. Those who receive the new benefit will instead be expected to pay their rent out of their monthly Universal Credit payment themselves, a move which has caused concerns for many landlords.

The National Housing Federation has called on the UK government to make exceptions for people who lack confidence in their budgetary discipline. The Federation also says more than 15% of local authority tenants and 13% of housing association tenants do not have a bank account, and so would be unable to pay their rent by direct debit if direct payment ended.

In a speech to the Local Government Association earlier this month, welfare reform minister Lord Freud said the government’s “planning assumption is that Universal Credit will be fully available in every part of Great Britain during 2016”.

He finished his speech: “I hope that as Universal Credit expands across Great Britain so will our networks of integrated delivery partnerships and co-located sites so that we can restore."

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