Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what action is being taken to simplify Universal Credit housing cost processes for vulnerable claimants and reduce waiting times.

Processes for declaring and verifying Universal Credit housing cost are designed to be simple and ensure timely and accurate payments. For Private Rented Sector (PRS) claimants, we ask for evidence of housing cost liability via secure upload, with alternatives for those claimants who can’t, or choose not to, verify in this way.

For the vast majority of Social Rented Sector (SRS) cases (around 95%), we verify housing costs through the landlord portal, which provides a direct response within a few days. For the small proportion of SRS cases not covered by the portal, verification is completed via email, which can take a little longer.

We are not aware of any significant problems with these processes at present. Payment timeliness has remained stable since the introduction of the landlord portal in 2017–19. We continuously evaluate the service and, where concerns are identified, we look to change or improve the way we deliver the service. This approach is intended to keep processes as simple and efficient as possible for all claimants, including those who are vulnerable.