An alleged 'flaw' in the Universal Credit system, meaning people who pay weekly rent will have to find an extra week's payment every leap year without any relief, has been has been compared to the Post Office computer scandal.
Universal Credit is calculated on a 52-week year. But in a year with 53 Mondays, it does not allow for the additional week’s rent levied by councils, housing associations and perhaps private landlords too. Councillors and Citizens' Advice workers raised the issue at the latest full council meeting.Jeni Meadows, from Citizens' Advice in north Lancashire, said: "Last year, we helped over 7,000 residents with many issues.
She added: "Citizens' Advice is extremely worried about this and believes this is administratively unjust. It is only right that the Department for Work & Pensions amend calculations to avoid this happening again. This issue will have an impact on wider services including food banks, which are all under pressure.
Coun Jackson said the Universal Credit issue was probably to do with computers. She added: "The trouble is we know this but the DWP cannot acknowledge it. This probably affects about half a million homes. Morecambe Bay Independent Coun Martin Bottoms, the deputy mayor, said: "Universal Credit uses a threshold system. Would getting an extra week's rent payment take people over the threshold and create other problems? In the past, we had discretionary warm home payments which people received regardless.
Source: Loan Digest (loandigest.net)
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