Press Release ABC Call For Eviction Protection Extension

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release: Monday 5th May 2020

CALL FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO EXTEND EVICTION PROTECTION

THE ASSOCIATION OF PENSION & BENEFITS CLAIMANTS CIC (the ABC) CALLS FOR A LONGER PREVENTION FROM EVICTION

The Association of Pension & Benefits Claimants CIC (the ABC) is calling on the government to extend tenants eviction protection in line with other countries.

Experience has shown that first time signing on to Universal Credit (UC) people can be facing delays and frustration due to the large number of people signing on and issues, for example, proving their identity, says the ABC.

‘Additionally, when people sign-on they are getting caught out by not understanding how UC works’ says Simon Collyer, founder of the ABC.

How Universal Credit operates is - the assessment period starts on the date that you make your UC claim. The assessment period will last one calendar month. The Claimant should receive their first payment 7 days after the end of your first assessment period. Universal Credit will then be paid on the same date each month.

‘What happens’, says Simon, ‘is people lose their job and then rush to claim Universal Credit’. UC adjusts not to how much work you do, but to how much you earn. So, wages or payments for work still to be paid can be set off against your UC award if it is paid during the assessment period. Employers can be signed-up to the Real-Time Information System - data is provided by HMRC to the DWP and it is exceedingly difficult to challenge this.

Prospective claimants, if they are due to be paid, are deciding not to sign on while wages are outstanding, or this money can be accounted for in the first assessment period and reduce the claimants first Universal Credit payment. ‘We see Claimants baffled as to why they have been awarded, for example, £12 to live on’ however this is one reason why some people get caught out points out the ABC.  

Additionally, it can be a shock to go from a well-paid job to be on benefits. It can take time to adjust to living on a lower income. That expensive morning latte once thought to be a necessity needs to be reconsidered. According to research by Turn2Us, the average UK worker is expecting £278 per month less income than they would normally receive and one in eight people are struggling to afford food and basic bills while one in twelve cannot afford cleaning supplies.

A bill is close to  being passed in New York to stop evictions for 12 months, although tenants will have to pay any arrears, a similar period of grace as in Australia. In Northern Ireland and Scotland, for example, have elected to prevent evictions for a much longer period. The three-month moratorium in England and Wales looks far from generous says the ABC.

Losing your job can be a huge economic shock. Many people have never claimed benefits before and the frustration, time and worry this can take can be considerable.

We cannot rely on the goodwill of landlords says the ABC, in particular those with business loans and mortgages to pay. Tenants need legal protection until this pandemic is over, and the economy can resume a more normal trajectory.

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1. An additional 3.46 million are expected to claim Universal Credit as 15% of working-age adults are going to rely on the welfare state through this pandemic.
2. Founded by Simon Collyer and launched on November 5th, 2014, The Association of Pension & Benefits Claimants CIC was founded to help provide ideas, information, and signposting to those claiming state benefits and state pensions. Additionally, to improve the image of those claiming social security.
3. The organisation receives information from governments, political parties, think tanks, NGO’s and third-sector organisations.
4. The ABC is arguing this point to the DWP, Will Quince MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Work & Pensions and to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick.
5. Turn2Us: https://www.abcorg.net/item/3347-universal-credit-survey-speaks-of-hardship-particularly-for-new-claimants