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14/7/25 8:13 pm
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Over-enthusiastic scrutiny of Universal Credit claims is putting tenants months into rent arrears and frustrating the landlords trying to help them, according to a Universal Credit expert.
DWP asks tenants to provide documents to validate their claim, such as a copy of their tenancy agreement and a letter from the landlord to confirm the tenancy, which should be rubber-stamped so payments can start, explains Bill Irvine, of UC Advice & Advocacy. However, ‘housing costs’ are regularly being refused - both during the initial claim and revisions process – by the DWP’s enhanced review team, which was set up to investigate fraud.
“They are over-scrutinising and looking for faults which means a large number of these documents are being rejected, or they’re asking for the same information many times, but won’t tell tenants why,” Irvine tells LandlordZONE. “In the meantime, tenants can’t pay rent, and it can be months before a payment is eventually made – and it often isn’t backdated so landlords then have to spend a lot of time and effort sorting it out.”
Tenants with mental health issues or for whom English isn’t their first language can really struggle with the red tape and might not realise or understand updates posted by DWP on their online journal.
If they are refused, claimants are entitled to request a mandatory reconsideration which should fully explain the DWP’s decision – but this doesn’t always happen, says Irvine, who believes the repeated delays are partly due to inexperienced employees. However, if it doesn’t get resolved, the next step is a tribunal hearing months later.
Some landlords simply decide the process is too much hassle and go down the eviction route instead, but Irvine warns that this can end up costing them more money than if they’d pursued the problem with the DWP. He advises them to put in the effort to help tenants unpick the bureaucracy, such as acting as a ‘scribe’ when they fill in their journal, and to get independent advice.
“I support the government trying to reduce fraud, but a lot of innocent tenants and landlords are being caught in the crossfire when cases drag on for months.”
A DWP spokesman tells LandlordZONE: “We are committed to supporting renters by ensuring they get the financial support to which they are entitled.
“In the unlikely event arrears occur, we have safeguards in place to resolve them swiftly and take action to reduce the likelihood of this re-occurring. We ensure any lessons learned are incorporated into future staff training and guidance.”
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