Universal Credit not paying my Housing

Emily2014

I’m not sure where to start but I’m on universal credit I got made to transfer over and have been since April and this is the third mistake so far they have admitted to.I also get the housing element paid directly to my landlord (council property). I have always had a clear rent account since I moved there in April. Last week I got a call of my finance officer bescially saying they are having to start recovery proceedings as the rent hasn’t been paid in over 6 weeks. I was shocked by this as the last I knew it was a clear account and being paid every month. I then checked my statement on line for universal credit nothing different on it and it says they’ll pay my landlord directly. Phone up universal credit who basically says yes it should have been paid it’s our fault leave it with us. All they did was send the finance officer a schedule of future payments. :mad: after much back and forth between loads of people universal credit said they’ll pay my landlord on or before the 7th of December. I checked my balance on line and it still hasn’t been paid and now it’s going to be 8 weeks on Monday since universal credit last paid it and I don’t know what to do. My landlord are paid directly as I have Bipolar and it’s the safer option for me and them. I don’t see any money whatsoever but now I’m going to be paying the unlimited price for universal credit mess up

Alice_Holt

Some suggestions:

1) I would keep notes of telephone calls, correspondence etc with UC. I would be inclined to put this on your journal, and in a letter to Universal Credit DWP Freepost Full service. Set it out as documentary proof of what has happened, show a timeline, and your contacts with UC. Keep copies. In your letter tell them about your health condition, and ask what safeguarding policies they have for customers for poor mental health, ask if they have followed these.
(http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/safeguarding-guidance-tool-practitioners)

2) Speak to your housing officer, and see what they can do to get the UC direct payments back in place. Get the HA on your side, give them a copy of your UC letter / journal entry so they can see the steps you have taken to get this sorted. I wouldn't be too worried about the "recovery proceedings" , because it's not as if you personally are failing to pay, and you have applied for the relevant benefit to cover your rent payments.. It sounds like standard procedure. If it escalates get advice from your local CAB.

3) Contact your MP. Send them a copy of the correspondence and ask them to intervene with the DWP.

4) Make a complaint - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

Which UC group are you in LCW or LCWRA?

Alice_Holt

pmduk wrote: »

Just to briefly provide a clickable link to Alice's reference until she adds the final square bracket!
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions/about/complaints-procedure

Thanks pmduk, done.

huckster

As this is a council property Universal Credit will pay any housing on a certain date each month.

So your UC statement might say your payment due date is say the 17th of the month. But UC will not pay the housing to the Council until say the 5th of the next month, because that is the date each month that UC make payments to the Council.

Council staff should know how Universal Credit works, as they will have received training on it. The Council staff threatening recovery proceedings, should stop this, once they are aware that direct payment of housing from UC has been arranged.

The problem you are having may also be with the Council, as when UC pay them, the money goes into a central Council rent account quoting your tenancy reference number. The Council staff then have to transfer the money across to your rent account. Perhaps the Councils housing team just need to check with accounts, so they are aware that money has been received from UC.

rachel6188

Give it til Monday hun. They should hopefully pay it the other thing is it might be sent for the 7th but take 3-5 working days. Depending on the system. It's worrying but this isn't anything you have done incorrectly xxx

Craig1981

if you area has recently changed to full service, dates of UC payments to landlords change accordingly as well. In the live service, it was paid on whatever date you got your payment in.
with the full service, they will pay landlords at once on one day of the month, for all their tenants.

This causes issues, as if you payment was on the 1st of each month, which was a payment in arrears for month prior anyway, and they now pay your landlord on the 28th of each month, your payment due to the landlord on the 1st, will result in them receiving it now on the 28th, causing arrears on the account for up to 9 weeks.

as said above, the landlords would be aware of this - the council i work for has recently experiences this change, and it is chaotic, to say the least.

the schedule and payments sent from UC will inform the landlord the amount, and the period it covers.

dependant on the landlord though, majority of tenancies will ask for rent in advance, regardless of how it is paid. will they enforce this? probably not, but they may have a right to do so.