Renters on Universal Credit could be ordered to repay thousands in housing benefit
RENTERS claiming Universal Credit could be forced to repay thousands in housing benefit.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is reviewing claims that were approved without the usual checks during lockdown.
You can if you're a Universal Credit claimant, but renters usually have to provide a tenancy agreement.
This means tenants that are sub-letting or have been unable to get a formal agreement from their landlord are not able to access housing benefit.
However, the government suspended parts of the verification process at the beginning of the pandemic to speed up the process.
But now the DWP is asking people to submit this evidence, and to repay the housing benefit if they can't provide a tenancy agreement.
One Universal Credit claimant, Tina Newman, has reportedly been told she must repay £5,372 because is unable prove her tenancy, the i newspaper .
The claimant, who lives in shared accommodation in Essex, had been paying rent to her housemate, who had passed it on to the landlord.
However, she didn't realise she was living in an unlicensed House in Multiple Occupation, meaning she was not eligible for a Universal Credit payment to cover her £500 a month rent.
A DWP spokesperson said: “At the onset of the pandemic we rightly suspended certain verification processes as we could no longer see customers face-to-face. However, we made customers aware that we may return to seek this verification in the future.
“If claimants have been paid money that they are not entitled to, then it is right that we seek to correct this on behalf of the taxpayer, whilst also offering support to ensure that any repayments are affordable.”
The government is also winding down some other financial support schemes that were provided during the pandemic.
Families who claim Universal Credit have had an extra £20 a week to help them cope during the Covid crisis as part of a package of emergency financial support.
But ministers have said the temporary uplift will end in September after lockdown is over, despite pleas for the higher payment to continue.
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