Universal Credit and delay to housing element(?)

I’ve heard speculation that there may be a delay in adding the housing element to UC to June 14 following a rethink that to start with all the elements making up UC from day 1 would be extra problematic if problesm are encountered. We have heard this from two different sources within DWP though nothing has been released for public consumption yet as far as we know.  Some clarity in the area would be much appreciated!

There is certainly a problem with Temporary Housing Accommodation Subsidy rules. The current rules are so complex, I cannot even attemp to explain them in a few lines. Needless to say there is no way they can be replicated within UC. There are also tens of thousands of homeless households (temporarily accommodated)whose tenancy would be at risk if nothing is put in place within UC.

LAS who are using private landlords to house the homeless will face a triple whammy.

1) Cap
2) Changes to THS rules above.
3) Loss of direct paymant etc

Hence all the talk of mass migration, of homeless families outside London.

I’ve had mutterings too, although pretty ‘chinese whispers’ in origin.  Presumably this would be the HB equivalent only, not SMI.

If it were to happen though there would be enormous problems with the earnings disregard calculation which relies on the housing element as part of the sum.

All the HB systems use a common data schema so there shouldn’t be any difficulty in reading from different sources.