In a report published on the 22nd November, "Universal Credit implementation: meeting the needs of vulnerable claimants", Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee concludes that the Government has designed a welfare system which should help ease the transition from benefits to work, but it warns that significant concerns remain about the potential impact of the changes on some of the most vulnerable benefit claimants.

The Committee is urging the Government to reflect on its ambitious implementation timetable and the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Dame Anne Begg MP said: "We recognise that the new Universal Credit system is likely to be accessible to the majority of claimants, but we have serious concerns about how more vulnerable people will cope with the changes, especially the online claims system and the proposed single monthly payment."

“The measures the Government plans to put in place to help these claimants may be difficult to access and too slow in identifying who these people are, with the risk that they will fall into debt and hardship before extra support can be provided.

“We believe that the Government should reflect on the possible consequences of these major benefit changes for some of the most vulnerable people in society and that it should consider modifying its implementation timescale if those consequences cannot be adequately addressed before national roll-out begins.

Under Universal Credit, payments to cover the costs of rent will go to the benefit claimant, rather than direct to the landlord. This is a major change to the benefit regime for tenants in the social housing sector and for some in the private rented sector. The Committee accepts that many tenants will cope with this change but it is concerned that some vulnerable claimants will be unable to manage making regular rent payments and may fall into arrears.

The Universal Credit pilots (Pathfinders) will begin in the north west of England in April 2013 and full national roll-out is due to start in October 2013.

Commenting on the announcement, Richard Lambert, Chief Executive Officer at the NLA, said: “The National Landlords Association fully endorses the Committee’s recommendation for taking a proactive approach to identifying and supporting those who may struggle with direct payment before they run into problems.

“Landlords need to know they will receive the rent if they are to have the confidence to continue to make property available. We welcome the Committee’s recommendation to give tenants the option to have their rent paid directly to landlords during the initial phases of Universal Credit implementation from April 2013.

“Whilst we support the Government’s plan to encourage financial capability, we share the Select Committee’s concerns about vulnerable people, particularly if they will only be identified as ‘vulnerable’ after experiencing problems. We support the committee in recommending that a definition of vulnerable is agreed in advance of Universal Credit’s implementation.”