Ministers scrap DWP program allowing landlords to tap into tenants’ benefits | Benefits

Ministers are to scrap a controversial “computer says yes” program that automatically approves landlord requests to deduct hundreds of pounds from tenants’ universal credit benefits without their consent.

Last month, a judge ruled that the “click-screen” program used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to process tens of thousands of deduction requests each year was unlawful.

It came after a challenge brought by tenant Nathan Roberts who argued it was an “abuse of process” that the DWP did not ask him before docking £500 from his benefits at the request of his landlord, with whom he was in dispute over repairs.

The work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, confirmed on Monday night that the DWP would not appeal against the judge’s decision and would examine ways to replace the automated program with a system that gives tenants more say over benefit deductions.

“I am determined to right the wrongs that have persisted in the benefits system for too long. The automatic approval of landlords’ requests for tenants’ benefits to be deducted is one of these,” Kendall said.

The internal review of landlord deductions will be part of a wider overhaul of universal credit design and processes promised by the government as it grapples with what it calls the UK’s “broken welfare system.”

Stephen Timms, the minister responsible for universal credit, said: “The benefits system needs urgent reform and we are taking action across the board to do this – whether that’s tackling the huge accumulation of debt by carer’s allowance recipients through no fault of their own, or this automatic deduction of benefits purely at the request of a landlord.”

Last month’s ruling centred on Roberts’s claim that it was unlawful for the DWP to pay the £460 rent element of his benefits and a £44 deduction for alleged rent arrears direct to his landlord, Guinness Partnership, without consulting him.

The judge agreed, declaring it unfair that a tenant who could be adversely affected by rent arrears deduction and rent diversion requests had no opportunity to make representations beforehand.

“The DWP’s engagement in the outcome of this case is a positive – if belated – step. Precisely what changes are going to be made remains to be seen, but the call for better decision making overall by the DWP can no longer be ignored,” said Emma Varley of Bindmans solicitors, who brought the Roberts case to court.

The DWP review is expected to include similarly automated benefit deductions made without the claimant’s consent by the DWP on behalf of utility companies for non-payment of water and fuel bills.

A court ruling 18 months ago found the DWP was in “breach of the obligation of fairness” by failing to check with claimants before deducting up to 25% of their benefits.

Labour’s fair repayment rate, which caps the amount that can be cut from benefit payments each month to repay short-term loans and debts, and which is expected to leave 1 million of the UK’s poorest households £420 a year better off, starts in April.