Today (13th October) the Government
has published new figures which show that
over 190,000 low-income renters on Universal Credit in
England are at least two or more months behind on their rent
– a rise of 90% in just half a year.
The new figures come exactly a week after the Government imposed
a cut to Universal Credit which has seen households lose an
average of £87 per month or the equivalent of £1,040 over a year.
With many people already struggling to keep their
head above water amongst escalating energy prices,
higher food costs and inflation expected to go above 4% by the
end of the year, these figures heighten fears that
struggling households will be pushed further into debt and
homelessness.
Responding to the figures Jon Sparkes, Crisis
Chief Executive, said: “These figures are far worse than we
feared and must act as a wake-up call to Government to act now if
we are to pull hundreds of thousands of renters back from the
brink of homelessness.
“The cold reality
of the Universal Credit cut is forcing people into
impossible decisions about whether to turn on the heating, put
food on the table for their children or pay the rent. How do we
expect to level up the country when families can’t even afford
the basic necessities?
“There is still time to fix
this. It’s vital that the Government use the upcoming
Spending Review to reverse this decision and reinstate the £20
lifeline so we can prevent struggling families from losing their
homes this winter. Anything short of this could be
catastrophic.”
-Ends-
Notes to Editor
-
Calculations are based on data from
the Household Resilience
Study: Wave 3 (published
October 2021). The 190,000 figure describes the number of
households on Universal Credit in England who were in
two or more months of arrears during April-May 2021 (the
period covered by the data); given that these households
typically do not have any savings to draw on, we assume that
household arrears have not been resolved. The figure does not
take account of households who were in arrears of shorter
length or who have since entered rent arrears, meaning that
this figure should be taken as a lower bound.
-
In Wave 2 (published April 2021),
100,000 households on Universal Credit in England
were in two or more months of arrears during November-December
2020, the period covered by the previous wave
of data.
-
Housing Benefit rates (and the
housing costs component of Universal Credit) have been frozen
since April this year. This means the rents are no longer
linked to market rents, at a time when families and individuals
up and down the country continue to struggle with the economic
impact of the pandemic. When people can't afford their rent,
they often rely on the rest of their Universal Credit payment
to make up the shortfall, or risk losing their homes. The
previous four-year freeze in LHA rates (2016-2020) undermined
the affordability of the private rented sector and led to
increased use of temporary accommodation as councils struggle
to prevent and end homelessness due to a lack of affordable
options.
-
From the 1st June 2021
until the 30th September 2021 the UK Government
announced that anyone served a section 21 notice in England
would need to be given a notice period of at least four months.
From the 1st October 2021 the notice periods are
expected to reduce again to two months' notice for a section
21, which was the required period before the pandemic. For
tenants in arrears, from the 1st August 2021
landlords only have to give a minimum notice period
of two months for arrears less than four months. For arrears
four months and over, the notice period drops to four
weeks.
