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This week, the changes to Universal Credit announced last month by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in the Autumn Budget came into effect. These changes see the dreaded Universal Credit taper (how much an individual’s Universal Credit gets reduced by for every pound they earn) reduced from 63 pence to 55 pence, allowing millions of working Brits in receipt of the benefit to keep more of their earnings.

In Wednesday’s Budget, one of the major announcements from the chancellor was that the Universal Credit taper will be reduced from 63% to 55% in a bid to help those full-time workers keep more of their earnings.

Over the weekend, the government announced a new £65m support package to help vulnerable renters who have fallen into rent arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s to be provided during the winter months and distributed directly to landlords through local councils, who will decide the best way to use the funding to support households behind on their rent.

From 6 October, 6.2 million people in receipt of Universal Credit will have their benefit cut by £20 per week, an uplift which was introduced by the Government at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. This will not only see many people plunged into further poverty and struggle to pay basic bills such as rent and electricity, but also cut the amount of any Third-Party Deductions being made to repay debt such as rent arrears. This could potentially leave more people at risk of eviction, says Caridon Landlord Solutions.

The Government has confirmed that the emergency measures introduced as part of the Coronavirus Act 2020, requiring landlords to provide longer notice periods when seeking possession of residential property, will come to an end on 30 September.

The number of tenants in arrears has tripled over the last year, leaving MPs and National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) once again calling for a grant or loan system for renters in England, so they can get on top of “a tsunami of debt”. Many renters are already struggling to pay off arrears they have accumulated through no fault of their own and that is before the furlough scheme draws to a close in autumn.