Coronavirus: Those Claiming Universal Credit Are Facing Additional Financial Problems

Monday, 7 September 2020 07:45

By Sarah Booker-Lewis (LDR)

More people claiming universal credit are facing extra financial problems due to the covid-19 pandemic.

A report going before four Brighton and Hove City Council housing panels, made up of residents’ representatives and councillors, said that housing officers had received more calls from people facing lost income after losing work.

According to the report, during March tenants started reporting financial hardship relating to the coronavirus pandemic as workplaces closed, many had their working hours cut and others lost their self-employed income.

In the first three months of this financial year, from the start of April, the number of council households claiming universal credit in Brighton and Hove increased to 2,544.

At the end of 2019-20, the total amount of uncollected rent from households affected by universal credit broke through the £1 million mark, more than two-thirds of all rent owed to the council.

The report going before the panels next Thursday (10 September) said that the number of households claiming universal credit doubled last year from 1,005 to 2,117.

As a result rent arrears also increased from £470,000 to £1.1 million in the last financial year.

Almost half of council tenants claiming universal credit are making alternative payments to cover their rent arrears.

Currently, 755 out of 1,620 people on universal credit who are in arrears are making alternative payments.

The report said:

“Advice on rents and benefits has been tailored to tenants at risk of hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“No possession action is being taken while these measures are in place.

“Staff across housing are phoning vulnerable tenants to make sure they have essential items and are feeling safe.”

At a full council meeting last month councillors agreed that there should be no evictions because of rent arrears caused by the coronavirus crisis from Monday 23 March up to the end of October.