Rent Increase: Changes required to UC

If you’re on Universal Credit, and claiming housing costs to pay your rent, you must let the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) know of this change in your rent.

To make this easier for you, the DWP will send you a ‘To Do’ notification to your journal in the first week of April 2022.

You must complete the ‘To Do’ before the end of your Universal Credit assessment period in April 2022 or you will miss out on the money you are due.

Please do not update your journal before the Monday 5th of April, this is because of how Universal Credit is calculated.

If you need help with your journal, please speak to your income officer.

If you don’t tell the DWP about your rent rise, your Universal Credit won’t be increased to cover your new rent and you could miss out on benefits you are due.

If you pay by standing order you need to speak to your bank about increasing your payment.

Here to Support you

Paying your rent on time must be your priority. We have lots of different ways to pay to help take the stress out of managing your money. North Wales Housing’s Income Team are here to support you and provide specialist advice on claiming benefits, maximising income, managing debt and money advice.

Contact [email protected] or call 01492 572727 to speak to a member of the Income Team.

Alternatively, Citizen’s Advice Cymru offer independent advice and guidance for benefits, debt, energy and employment matters https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/wales .

You can also visit www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk for further information about Universal Credit.

Paying your rent on time must be your priority. We have lots of different ways to pay to help take the stress out of managing your money. Our specialist advisers can also help you to prepare a budget for your household, so you know what’s coming as well as which things need to be paid as a priority, such as rent, council tax, utilities etc.