The government has agreed to include a specialist housing team within the universal credit service centre, following negotiations with housing professionals.
According to Inside Housing:
The team will provide a dedicated service for social landlords to contact to deal with housing specific issues, such as switching housing benefit payments back to landlords directly where a tenant is in arrears.
Universal credit, which combines a range of benefits into a single monthly payment, has been piloted in a number of local authority areas.
Daniel Klemm, external affairs manager at the National Housing Federation and chair of monthly meetings between landlords the Department for Work and Pensions in the Manchester area, called the move an ‘evolution’.
‘What’s happened previously that the universal credit service centre has had a generalist approach, but from now on you will be able to speak to a dedicated housing team which should make things a lot quicker and easier for housing associations,’ he said. ‘This is part of an ongoing process of working out the “nitty gritty” aspects of universal credit to ensure the system continually improves for claimants and landlords.’
The universal credit project has been struck by multiple delays. Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said in December that it may miss its 2017 target.