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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 any change in your rent.
To make this easier for you, the DWP sends you a ‘To Do’ notification to your journal in the first week of the new rent year. For 2020/2021, this happened on April 6th 2020.
You must complete the ‘To Do’ as soon as possible once it becomes available to avoid missing out on the money you are due. If you did not receive a ‘To-Do’, you will need to report it as a change to your housing costs immediately.
Unfortunately, we can’t tell the DWP on your behalf, but if you need help with your journal please speak to your housing 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.
You can find more information about Universal Credit on our website on our ‘Universal Credit‘ page and in our Universal Credit ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section.
If you receive Housing Benefit you don’t need to do anything. Your benefit will be automatically updated.
If you pay by standing order you need to speak to your bank about increasing your payment.
Make sure you include your rent reference number so your payment reaches your account without delay.
What you need to do
A new ‘Report any changes to your housing costs’ message will be in your “To-do List” on 6 April 2020.
Sign in to your Universal Credit online journal at www.universal-credit.service.gov.uk/sign-in and follow these simple steps:
- Click on your To-Do List
- Click on the “Report any changes to your housing costs To-do”.
You will be asked the following questions:
- “Has your rent changed?” – Select Yes
- “Have your service charges changed?” – Select Yes
- “When did your housing costs change?” – Enter 06/04/2020
- “How much will you be charged for your new rent (excluding service charges)?” – Enter your rent amount
- “How frequent is your new rent?” – Enter weekly
- “How much will you be charged for your new service charges (eligible)?” – Enter your service charge amount or £0.00 if you do not pay service charges
- “How frequent is your new service charges?” – Enter weekly.
Once you have answered these questions you will see a summary of your answers. If you have made any mistakes you can change your answers.
If you are happy with the information you have provided press confirm to complete the To-Do.
We’ve also created a website step-by-step guide showing you what to do and where to click.
