Fourth Universal Credit Impact Report Published

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The Northern Housing Consortium has published its fourth Impact of Universal Credit Round. This report outlines the findings of the final in a series of four surveys and builds upon the results of the first three reports, which can be accessed from NHC’s website here. The research investigates how the implementation and continuing rollout of Universal Credit is affecting housing organisations and their tenants in the north.

We continue to track members’ responses to core questions on arrears levels, delays in processing claims and on how the system impacts on tenants’ health and well-being. This latest survey, however also introduced questions to explore confidence in service centres and respondents’ relationships with DWP Partnership Managers. Some of the key findings from the Round 4 report are:

  • over four-fifths of respondents said that delays in processing claims led to tenants being short of money.
  • more than three-quarters have seen enquiries to money advice teams increase due to Universal Credit.
  • almost three-quarters said that getting information from service centres is either fairly or very difficult.
  • all respondents were aware of tenants using food banks.

We continue to use findings from the research to engage with DWP officials through NHC’s roundtable programme to raise members’ concerns and experiences of procedural issues and we will work with DWP to make the new system as smooth as possible for tenants, housing providers and DWP alike.

Now that the research is complete and there is a whole year’s worth of data collected, a final report will soon be published that pulls together all of the data from the four surveys to provide trend analysis and some conclusion from the findings. If you need any more information on this project, please contact Business Intelligence Officer Barry Turnbull.