Concerns raised over rise in renters missing payments in Brighton and Hove
The Council is offering extra support.
More people are missing rent payments in Brighton and Hove after moving from employment support allowance to universal credit.
Brighton and Hove City Council is offering extra support to those people, saying that many are vulnerable and find the switch challenging.
In the first quarter of 2025-26, 490 tenants switched to universal credit, which includes housing benefit, compared with 900 during the whole of the 2024-25 financial year.
At a housing management panel meeting, the council’s head of tenancy services Justine Harris said: “What that means is people’s accounts automatically go into arrears.”
On Wednesday (18 September), she told the meeting for Hove and Portslade tenants and leaseholders: “There’s lots of support. We are trying to help people with that.”
The council’s director of housing people services Harry Williams said that people receiving employment support allowance had usually been too unwell to work.
This made the situation more challenging than previous migrations to universal credit because people needed extra support.
Mr Williams said: “We would really encourage (tenants reps) who know anyone who is worried about their rent, or if they receive a letter from the Department for Work and Pensions about moving over from employment support allowance to universal credit, to get in touch with us so we can support them through that journey.
“We don’t just call people and ask them to pay their rent. We provide a lot of signposting. We’re out in the community providing homes visits where we can refer for money advice so they can get wider support around not only rent but council tax and utilities.
“We can help people get personal dependence payments, a disability benefit. For people who are really struggling to move over, we will go with them to their job centre meetings.”
The move from one benefit to another has led to six-week gaps in payments, leaving people struggling, the meeting was told. The council has provided help for those affected to access food banks.
The council’s quarterly housing performance report showed that 92.4 per cent of rents due had been collected, down from 93.1 per cent in the previous quarter and a target of more than 95 per cent.
If the rate remained the same for the whole financial year, the council would collect £70.4 million of the £76.2 million due, leaving the council almost £6 million short, up from £5 million last year.