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One of the housing associations involved in the Government’s direct payment demonstration projects has warned social landlords to get strict with their arrears policy ahead of Universal Credit after revealing it has taken five tenants to court over unpaid rent.

GreenSquare Group – which is partnering with Oxford City Council on one of the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) six demonstration projects paying housing benefit directly to tenants – issued the warning to landlords at a welfare reform briefing in London today. 

Talk to any landlord or letting agent and they're likely to have strong opinions about renting properties to people claiming housing benefit. Whichever side of the fence you sit, accepting tenants who rely on help from the government to pay their rent remains a contentious issue.

Stereotyping still exists and is, quite frankly, appalling. We should be horrified by the lack of respect, understanding and common decency that people claiming benefits face daily. 

Plans to stop under-25s claiming housing benefit would not affect anyone coming out of care or fleeing domestic violence, a parliamentary aide has clarified.

Yesterday chancellor George Osborne announced the Conservative Party’s intentions to make a further £10bn savings on welfare by 2016, which is understood to feature the under-25s restriction and also the end to the automatic right of benefit increases for unemployed families having more children. 

Chancellor George Osborne and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith have publicly agreed that £10bn of further savings on welfare can be made, after the pair co-authored a piece in the Daily Mail showing a united front on the issue.

The piece, penned for the opening day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, reveal the pair are “united” in their determination to deliver Universal Credit, and that both are “satisfied” that £10bn of further welfare savings can be made. The detail of the cuts, which is set to lead to serious tensions in the Coalition, are set to be announced by Mr Osborne today. 

The timing of advice and support for benefit claimants assessed as needing a special budgeting bank account to handle monthly payments under Universal Credit is crucial, according to a financial expert.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) yesterday held a procurement day for national payment suppliers who have expressed interest in developing new budgeting accounts for vulnerable claimants, which would be offered when claimants sign on to Universal Credit. 

The majority of the public want benefit spend monitored, according to a poll, leading to fears the Government’s rhetoric around 'problem families' and 'scroungers' is shaking people’s faith in the welfare state.

Think-tank Demos polled 2,052 adults, which revealed that 59% of them believed the Government should control what people spend the new Universal Credit on.

Welfare reform minister Lord Freud says Universal Credit claimants could keep fortnightly payments for up to two years with their cases reviewed periodically.

Delivering a speech at the Centre for Responsible Credit Annual Conference earlier this week the minister said the Government was still developing guidance on exceptions to monthly payments – following concerns claimants would struggle to move from fortnightly payments. 

Social landlords are in talks with internet service providers in a bid to arrange free online access for tenants ahead of the introduction of universal credit.

From October 2013, a range of benefits will begin to be merged into one monthly payment, administered by a central IT system. This has led to concerns that tenants without internet access may struggle to manage their claims as the government expects most claims to be made online. 

Homelessness charities have welcomed a decision by the Department for Work and Pensions to exclude supported accommodation from universal credit.

Charities had raised concerns that universal credit, which combines a number of benefits including housing benefit from 2013, would not take into account the extra costs of providing supported housing. Under the current system, an ‘exempt accommodation rule’ means the extra cost of managing accommodation for a vulnerable person is taken into account. 

Reports the Government is set to freeze working age benefits - by ending the automatic annual increase in line with inflation - would almost certainly weaken the living standards of low-income families and suggests it is "running out of ideas on welfare reform".

That's the verdict from think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which suggests that a further £4 billion could be saved in 2016-17 if all working-age benefits - including jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit - were frozen from 2014-15.