Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has plans to introduce a mechanism enabling landlords to recover unpaid rent where Universal Credit housing costs have been paid to claimants but not passed on to the landlord.

Such a mechanism is already in place. If a customer has a rent arrears of two months or more, for the accommodation they are currently occupying, a landlord may request a deduction from the customer’s Universal Credit.