Universal credit will lead to an average increase in rent arrears of £180 for each tenant, according to law firm Winckworth Sherwood.
A major shake-up of the benefits system began yesterday with a pilot involving new claimants in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester. Universal credit will merge several benefits and tax credits, including housing benefit, into one monthly payment.
The government's new Universal Credit (UC) system has begun to be rolled-out today, in four North West towns.
The reformed benefit programme will be introduced in four jobcentres in parts of Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Wigan and Warrington.
Housing charity Shelter has reported a surge in demand for its homelessness advice services.
In the last year, the charity has recorded a 40% rise in the numbers of callers in England needing help with housing costs, arrears and other debt issues, while in the last six months, visitors to its online housing costs advice service have doubled.
Edinburgh Council has adopted a ‘no eviction’ policy for tenants affected by the ‘bedroom tax’.
The local authority agreed that ‘where the director of services for communities was satisfied that tenants who were subject to the under-occupation charge had done all they reasonably could to avoid falling in to arrears, then all legitimate means to collect rent arrears should be utilised except eviction’.
Bedroom tax protestors have hit the homes of Poole councillors with 'eviction notices' and police tape.
Only Conservative members of Borough of Poole Council were targeted in the protest, which is being investigated by the police.
The first four councils to test the government’s new benefit cap have warned they have not received enough money to implement the changes.
Enfield, Croydon, Haringey and Bromley councils on Monday became the first local authorities to implement the £26,000-a-year benefit cap. The councils must identify who is eligible for the cap and administer the new system.
Similarly, over a third (35 percent) of people in England currently receiving council tax benefit said they are not aware that they may be required to pay more or all of their council tax from this April. Over two thirds (68 percent) said that they would have to cut back on heating and food if they had to pay more toward their council tax bill.
Turn2us is running its third annual Benefits Awareness Month campaign this April to encourage people in financial need to check their entitlements and prepare for the significant changes to the benefit system that are coming into effect.
The bedroom tax will cost Northern Ireland more to implement than it will save in housing benefit, new figures have revealed.
According to a joint study by the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA) and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), though the bedroom tax aims to cut the benefits bill by £17m, it will cost £21m to implement.
The government has underestimated the combined impact of three different benefit cuts coming into effect at once, a think tank has claimed.
The New Policy Institute today publishes a report looking at the impact of the bedroom tax, council tax benefit changes and the overall benefit cap.
George Osborne has defended the bedroom tax, saying it is ‘only fair’ to treat social housing tenants and private renters the same.
The chancellor of the exchequer, speaking to supermarket workers in Kent, said: ‘We have got 1.8 million families waiting for social housing and yet there are eight million spare rooms across the sector.