Universal Credit update and direct payment

Universal Credit update and direct payment

8:28 AM, 22nd March 2018, About 6 years ago 29

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If you wish for your tenants Housing Cost Element (Rent) to be paid direct to you, as a Landlord you can make a request for a Managed Payment (APA) by completing a UC47 form, this form can be found on Gov.uk.

This form has recently been updated on 21/03/18 and the wording to support the Creditor Reference Number and the Tenant Reference Number has been amended to make it clearer for landlords to provide the necessary information needed to improve the APA process.

In addition the process and UC47 have been updated to ensure that the correct form is completed and directed to the right Service Centre for processing.

Further information about the APA process can be found in section 8 of the Universal Credit and rented housing: guide for landlords

We recently informed you on the updates of Transition to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit  which was announced in the Autumn budget, this has now been confirmed and as

of 11 April 2018 a two week Transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment will be awarded to Housing Benefit (HB) claimants who naturally migrate to Universal Credit (UC) by awarding an additional two weeks HB entitlement from the start date of the UC claim.

Universal Credit is a passported benefit for Housing Benefit, the Transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment will be two weeks of Housing Benefit entitlement based on the claimant’s new circumstances of receiving Universal Credit. The landlord will receive the claimants eligible rent minus any deductions such as overpayment recovery or non-dependant deductions

for the two week payment this payment will be administered by Local Authorities.

This payment will not require any additional intervention from the claimant (unless they have a change of circumstance such as moving address, in which case they would need to inform their local authority).

The Housing Benefit transition payment will be paid directly to the person usually receiving the payment, for example if the claimant is in receipt of  the Housing Benefit payment they will receive the transition payment to either credit their rent account, or to use for daily living expenses or to live off until they receive their  first Universal Credit Payment.

If the landlord is in receipt of the Housing Benefit payment and receives the transition payment it must be allocated to the tenants rent account to clear any assisting arrears or to put the account in Credit

If a change of address has prompted the new UC claim, the Transition to UC Housing payment will always be paid directly to the claimant.

For assistance on more complex cases on Universal Credit or Housing Benefit please contact us using the form below and we will assist you in resolving your issue.

Contact Sherrelle for offline Universal Credit advice

Sherrelle is an independent consultant and is recommended by Property118 for landlords who require professional advice and assistance in regards to dealing with Universal credit related matters


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Comments

Mick Roberts

16:50 PM, 30th March 2018, About 6 years ago

Hey up Rob,

How did u get that secure email address. Ring me Tues & tell me more good buddy.

People,

Please copy paste this text to all your UC landlords, forums etc.

Once a FS UC claimant, everything is done online (claims, changes in circumstances, exchanges with DWP etc) and, that’s where many of the problems arise. Hands-on landlords, accustomed to phoning a contact in the council to resolve issues, can no longer do that. Instead, the onus is placed on the tenant to communicate with DWP. Some handle this quite easily, whilst others, fail miserably, through lack of IT knowledge, health issues or sometime downright indifference to the fact, the housing element, is not being paid to their landlord. Unlike LHA, landlords don’t have any rights to receive payment direct. Where payment is redirected, it’s done so at the “discretion” of DWP with no rights of appeal to a First-tier tribunal.

DWP’s administration is, at this moment, a work-in-progress, shockingly poor and completely unreliable. The APA scheme, designed to safeguard the interests of tenants & landlords alike, is not working as it should. Landlords contacting DWP by phone are invariably being refused access to any information about the progress or outcome of their APA. Tenants, in many instances, receive payment of the “housing element”, month after month, despite an APA having been submitted, requesting redirection to the landlord. The funds paid to many tenants are being repeatedly misused, putting themselves in jeopardy of losing their tenancy, becoming homeless in the process and their landlord many £000’s out of pocket and struggling to meet their own obligations to landlords.

Where DWP delay or fail to progress APAs in a reasonable timescale, Landlords should complain, using DWP’s Complaints Process. Thisis explaiedn how they should do that in the following website bulletins. Members can access these. If you wish to share with some of your landlord colleagues Bill Irvine has opened up access for a week or so to assist them.

http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/2018/02/dwps-apa-and-complaints-processes-are-failing-landlords
http://universalcreditadvice.com/housing-associations/2016/09/universal-credit---your-regional-complaint-resolution-teams-explained

I would strongly encourage all landlords to make use of these processes to pursue compensation from DWP for the wholly avoidable rental loss they’ve experienced. Don’t be put off by DWP suggestions you’re wasting your time complaining and that their “Special Payments” don’t extend to rental loss. That very issue, and more besides, is currently being considered by the Independent Case Examiner the 3rd stage in the complaints process, which is truly independent of DWP. In fact, looking at past complaint outcomes 50% + are wholly successful. That’s perhaps why DWP is misleading landlords in the hope this will result in a withdrawal of the complaint. Don’t be suckered by its propaganda!

If you’re in doubt about anything, contact Bill or Sherrelle at Caridon Landlord Solutions.

Mick Roberts

19:48 PM, 30th March 2018, About 6 years ago

I forgot to put Bill Irvines details here in case anyone wanted any UC or HB advice, wanted to check with him first that he was ok with number being on here:

Bill Irvine
http://www.ucadvice.co.uk
Tel: +447733 080 389 or +441698 424301
@Billirvine17

Robert M

11:18 AM, 31st March 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 30/03/2018 - 16:50Hi Mick
Put "ProtonMail" in your search engine and you should be able to find their website. They offer several levels of service, a basic level which is entirely FREE, but has limitations (e.g. amount of storage etc), and this is what I've got at the moment, - I've not used it much yet, but plan to do so. They also do (reasonably priced) paid for accounts where you get more storage capacity and multiple customisable email addresses (e.g. using your business name or website domain names etc), so although I don't have this at the moment I am seriously thinking of upgrading to this.
Having secure emails is probably a good idea for everyone, particularly in view of the GDPR coming into force in May 2018, as this will apply to ALL landlords, regardless of whether they have just one property or hundreds of properties!

Mick Roberts

12:49 PM, 1st April 2018, About 6 years ago

Ok,

Can Sherrelle confirm this email will suffice for UC fools?

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

17:27 PM, 4th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 01/04/2018 - 12:49
I'm still waiting for confirmation from Universal Credit, as soon as I am informed I will update you all.

Tobias Nightingale

18:10 PM, 4th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS at 04/04/2018 - 17:27
Caridon,
can you confirm whether or not just a tenants national insurance number and full name would service for the form or not? Or do you need the date of birth as well?

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

15:28 PM, 5th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tobias Nightingale at 04/04/2018 - 18:10
Dear Tobias,
On the current non secure UC47 there is no place to put your tenants NIN therefore it is recommended that you put the tenants full D.O.B on the form as the form askes for a D.O.B. You can submit the form without the tenants D.O.B however it may take longer to process.

Tobias Nightingale

18:35 PM, 5th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS at 05/04/2018 - 15:28
Thanks for getting back in touch. So i i take It to mean it will take longer but will '''''still '''' be processed? How long would we be talking in this case?

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

13:09 PM, 6th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Tobias Nightingale at 05/04/2018 - 18:35
Dear Tobias,
It will take much longer and may in some cases be rejected depending on the service centre.

CARIDON LANDLORD SOLUTIONS

14:57 PM, 11th April 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mick Roberts at 30/03/2018 - 19:48
I’ve been informed by DWP that they will only accept what they deem to be secure and those are email networks held by the government e.g. anything including gsi. gse. etc. This would mean that Proton mail would not be accepted.

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