Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ian Mearns and Caroline Dinenage

Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)]

19. What assessment he has made of the effect of the length of waiting time to receive universal credit on levels of rent arrears.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Caroline Dinenage)]

The Department for Work and Pensions is currently undertaking work to investigate the reality of rent arrears in universal credit. It aims to understand the true level of rent arrears for tenants, what is causing them, and any impacts universal credit may be having.

[Caroline Dinenage]

The hon. Lady is right to ask the question, but alternative payment arrangements are available. We have listened carefully to housing providers and we are seeing improvements all the time.

[Ian Mearns]

I listened carefully to the Minister’s answer, and I wonder whether it would be of any surprise to her that the chief executive of a large housing authority in the north-west of England recently told me that the authority had arrears of more than £2 million from universal credit alone. Claimants in one authority in Yorkshire and Humber have average arrears of more than £1,100 each. Why is that happening and what is she going to do about it?

[Caroline Dinenage]

We have to be careful not to scaremonger on this issue. A National Federation of Arm’s Length Management Organisations report says that three quarters of tenants who started to claim universal credit were already in arrears, and research shows that after four months the number of claimants in arrears has fallen by a third.