The deliberate exclusion of social landlords from the Universal Credit system means arears levels are even worse than was originally feared, according to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations.
Submitting evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee’s Inquiry into Universal Credit, GWSF says that arrears aren’t just down to teething issues with a new system, but are the inevitable result of social landlords being shut out of the process, reliant on tenants to tell them about their UC claim.
GWSF says evidence from members clearly shows that arrears levels are much higher among Universal Credit claimants than among Housing Benefit claimants.
Maureen Cope, Chair of GWSF’s Campaign Group, said:
“Catastrophes are usually unexpected, but with Universal Credit what we’re seeing was sadly all too predictable. A system where the minimum wait for money for most new claimants is seven weeks was bound to cause hardship from the beginning. This is made worse by the lack of any proper system of communication between the DWP and social landlords.
“The original idea behind Universal Credit was hard to argue with – people able to keep a lot more of their income after taking up work. But those potential benefits are being outweighed by high levels of debt building up frighteningly quickly, and it’s still relatively early days in terms of rollout.
“As community based housing associations our members pride themselves on making and maintaining close contact with tenants, and this has always included helping them sort out Housing Benefit issues quickly. But now we just don’t have the information to be able to support people with their Universal Credit claim, with the result that tenants are quickly facing debt and hardship, and landlords’ chief income stream is badly hit.
“It’s welcome that the Committee is looking again at what’s happening with Universal Credit, but our worry is that the UK Government will either be unwilling to make fundamental change to this deeply flawed system, or incapable of it.”
GWSF’s submission to the Work and Pensions Committee can be seen here.