StepChange calls on government for a dedicated "rent debt fund"

According to StepChange’s research, 558,000 universal credit claimants are facing £360m in rent arrears. The renters said that the planned cuts will mean they will struggle to pay existing rent debts over the next 12 months.

The charity says that the government’s planned £20 per week cut to universal credit threatens to escalate difficulties caused by the crisis.

Despite the reopening of the economy, StepChange’s polling shows that rent debt levels have not budged over the past nine months and threaten to escalate as Covid support is withdrawn. Some 225,000 private renters now expect to lose their homes due to not being able to keep up with rents and many see no way out of entrenched pandemic-related difficulties.

StepChange has been calling on the government to provide an emergency financial support package to help renters worst affected. The charity is also urging the government not to cut £20 a week from universal credit. Without action, Stepchange says many private renters face long-term housing insecurity, and prolonged debt harm.

Phil Andrew, chief executive of StepChange Debt Charity, said: “For 18 months, renters have been at the sharp end of the pandemic. The government’s own research shows that private renters have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and the numbers in rent arrears have more than doubled since March 2020. Covid support schemes, while a lifeline for many, haven’t been able to help renters address their arrears and with cuts to Universal Credit and the end of furlough imminent, there is a real danger of thousands losing their homes.

“That’s why StepChange is calling for dedicated financial support to help ensure renters can safely wind down Covid rent debts and keep their homes. By establishing a dedicated rent debt fund, and by scrapping the planned Universal Credit cut, the government can avert the threat of a rise in evictions, problem debt and homelessness that will compound financial and social problems and hamper economic recovery.”