Schemes piloting direct payment of housing benefit to private landlords are working smoothly, a government report has claimed.

But the Department for Work and Pensions has not decided when direct payment – also known as local housing allowance – will be introduced for social landlords.

A DWP spokesman said: “We still have a commitment to pilot this in the social sector but at this stage we don’t have a time frame for when that will happen.”

Cash is being paid directly to tenants in nine council pilot areas. The first pilot in the two-year project ran from November 2003 to February 2004; a second wave of pilots starts on 11 April.

Delivering the LHA, a DWP report that focused on the pilots for a six-month period, found no noticeable increase in rent arrears.

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

Read the study at www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/lha/index.asp