Mentally ill woman feared she’d lose her home after waiting weeks for Universal Credit payment Hazel ended up owing £1,200 in rent after struggling to apply for Universal Credit then waiting weeks for it to come through

When Hazel Brown moved home to be closer to her sister, she thought it would be a positive fresh start. Having suffered from anxiety and depression for several years, the 56-year-old thought leaving the rural part of Cumbria she’d been living in for the city of Carlisle would make her feel less isolated and more able to cope with her condition.

But not long after the move Hazel found herself in rent arrears of £1,200 and feared she’d end up losing her new home after waiting weeks for her Universal Credit payment to come through.

“At the time I wasn’t in a good place with my mental health,” she told i. “I couldn’t cope with the process. I was worried about falling behind with my rent. I was frightened and confused.”

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A former factory worker, Hazel had to give up work 10 years ago after she began suffering from mental health problems. She had been receiving housing benefit and Employment Support Allowance (ESA) until she moved into a housing association property in Carlisle and was told she’d have to apply for Universal Credit instead to cover her housing and living costs.

Couldn’t manage

But despite having her own bank account, email address and internet access, she found the application process daunting and couldn’t manage it on her own.

“I don’t think the Government understand that people don’t have savings to fall back on” Hazel Brown

With no money coming in, Hazel soon found herself owing rent and struggling to buy food and essentials. Fearing she’d end up homeless, she asked her landlord, the Riverside Group, for help. By then she was £1,200 in rent arrears.

With their help, Hazel managed to complete her Universal Credit application, yet then had to wait a further seven weeks for payment. Desperate, she borrowed money from relatives just to feed herself.

“They need to make the process quicker,” Hazel said. “People shouldn’t have to wait weeks and deal with the uncertainty of not knowing. I don’t think the Government understand that people don’t have savings to fall back on.

“It made me scared that I could lose my home.”

Riverside, one of Britain’s largest providers of social housing and homelessness services, has since received the rent Hazel owed through back-dated Universal Credit payments. But they say cases like hers are all too common – with many tenants waiting so long for the six-in-one benefit, they end up having to borrow money or rely on charity to survive.

Survey findings

A recent in-depth survey by Riverside revealed that two in five claimants had to rely on foodbanks to feed themselves and their families after moving on to Universal Credit. “The five week wait means that many people are going without food or heating and are getting into debt to cover their bills” Hugh Owen The study also showed that arrears among tenants claiming the benefit were more than three-and-a-half times higher than those who weren’t, averaging £600 each. More than 80 per cent said the wait for their first payment had caused them financial hardship and over three-quarters said they’d had to rely on loans from family, friends or private lenders to get by. Read more: Single mother of a three-month-old baby is living on £10 a week and can’t afford heating or food

“Our findings clearly show that our tenants are experiencing increased financial difficulty because of the wait for Universal Credit,” said Hugh Owen, director of strategy at Riverside. “The five week wait means that many people are going without food or heating and are getting into debt to cover their bills.”

In addition, the survey found that over 90 per cent of claimants were waiting for more than four weeks for their Universal Credit payments and 43 per cent were, like Hazel, waiting more than six weeks.

One claimant, who took part in the survey, but asked to remain anonymous, said: “We don’t have enough money to support us so we are having to visit the food bank more regularly. We’re having the odd meal at a friend’s house but we go days without eating or showering because I can’t afford to put enough gas on to last. I’ve had to sell most of my things to try and get us by.”

Another added: “It took over 11 weeks to receive my first Universal Credit payment and by that time I had borrowed from a few different family members.”

Campaign for change

Statistics revealed in May showed that more than two million Brits are now receiving Universal Credit with an additional five million set to get the benefit between now and 2023, when the Government estimates that there will be a total of seven million recipients.

The Riverside Group has become the latest organisation to join the Trussell Trust’s #5WeeksTooLong campaign, in which the hunger prevention charity is calling for an end to the five week wait for initial Universal Credit payments and to reduce the number of people who are forced to use food banks.

In April 2019, The Trussell Trust revealed that the number of emergency food parcels it has given out across Britain had risen by almost three-quarters from 913,138 food parcels in 2013/14 to 1.58m in 2018/19. Among the main reasons people were referred to the charity’s food banks were delays or changes to benefits being paid.

While the Government insists that five-week waits for Universal Credit are not typical and that the system is much simpler with many families better off on Universal Credit, the charity disagrees.

“Too many people are being forced to food banks because they don’t have enough money as they wait at least five weeks for their first universal credit payment,” said Emma Revie, chief executive at the Trussell Trust. “People might be disabled, facing homelessness, struggling with rent arrears, or escaping domestic abuse.

“This wait is five weeks too long – ending it must be the government’s first priority.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “With Universal Credit no one has to wait five weeks to be paid, as your first payment is available as an advance on day one, and 95 per cent of Universal Credit payments are made in full and on time.

“Many people join Universal Credit with pre-existing arrears but research shows that number falls by a third after four months. And the simpler system means 700,000 families are now getting on average £285 more a month.”