DWP refusal to stop a UC managed payment to landlord when it's being paid to the wrong landlord

Use this template if all the following apply

Your client receives universal credit (UC) and:

• their award includes the UC housing costs element
• there is a Managed Payment to Landlord (MPTL) to their previous (or the wrong) landlord
• your client has notified the DWP of this and provided evidence of their current rent liability to a different landlord
• DWP has refused to stop the MPTL or not responded
• payments have continued to the old/wrong landlord meaning your client cannot afford their current rent or is experiencing financial hardship

This letter assumes that (so can be changed)

• Your client has accrued rent arrears at their new address.
• There is an ongoing deduction from their UC for rent arrears at their old address.
• Your client has requested a mandatory reconsideration which has not been responded to within a reasonable time. 

When not to use

Do not use this letter if:

• Your client has not told the DWP that they have moved home. 

The main legal arguments in this template are:

1. The power to make a managed payment to a landlord, is set out in regulation 58 of the Universal Credit (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (“UC (CP) Regs”) and includes that it is available where it “appears to the Secretary of State necessary to protect the interests of [the claimant or other specified person.]”. On no reasonable interpretation of reg 58 UC (CP) Regs can a payment be said to be protecting the claimant’s interests if it is made to the wrong recipient, in this case, if a rent payment is made to a party that is not the claimant’s landlord, with the consequence that the claimant accrues rent arrears to their current landlord and their tenancy, ie, their home, is put at risk.
2. Under regulation 60 of the UC (CP) Regs: “Deductions may be made from benefit and direct payments may be made to third parties on behalf of a claimant in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 6 and Schedule 7.”
3. Under Schedule 6 UC (CP) Regs, an amount may be deducted for rent and service charge arrears where all of the specified conditions are met, including ongoing occupation of the property. To make deductions from a claimant’s UC award in respect of rent arrears on a former tenancy unequivocally does not meet the conditions set out in para 7 Sch 6 UC (CP) Regs.
4. In Roberts v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2025] EWHC 51 (Admin), Justice Fordham found that DWP's policy for implementing rent deductions was unlawful due to procedural unfairness where a claimant is not given an opportunity to respond before any change to their UC takes effect. The failure to have regard to the claimant’s representations when deciding to continue the deductions for rent for the property the claimant no longer occupies is clearly also procedurally unfair.
5. DWP has made deductions from the claimant’s UC award and paid them to third parties when there was no legal authority allowing that to happen. DWP must, therefore, now repay these sums to the claimant.
6. DWP is under a duty to consider all claims for benefit within a “reasonable time” – R(C and W) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] EWHC 1607 (Admin). This duty equally applies to deciding revision requests. What counts as a reasonable time depends on the circumstances, including the impact on the claimant and the complexity of the case. The claimant cannot pay their current rent. 

Information about your client

• name
• address
• national insurance number (NINO)
• date of birth

Background facts

Such as:

• family details, disability, health conditions, any other vulnerability
• any financial hardship your client is experiencing as a result of the refusal, any rent arrears or risk of their being unable to afford to pay for their housing, heating or food
• any need to use food banks
• any detriment to their health and welfare or to any of their family members' health and welfare

Information relating to the decision

• Your client's current address and details of the evidence provided to the DWP of current rent liability, how it was provided, and when.
• Your client's previous address and details of the MPTL and rent arrears deductions in respect of the previous property.
• Details of your client's current rent, how and whether it has been paid. Are there any rent arrears; what action has the landlord taken?
• When and how, your client asked that the MPTL (and rent arrears deductions) be stopped.
• How DWP responded to that request, including dates and exactly what was said (direct quotations from your client's UC journal if possible).
• The date and amount of any deductions taken after your client moved home (and after they told the DWP that they had moved).
• The date of the mandatory reconsideration request.   

We've created this guide to help you successfully use our judicial review pre-action letter templates: Guide to using CPAG's judicial review pre-action letter templates

Once you've finished your letter, please email it to us at: [email protected] before you send it to the lawyers acting for DWP/HMRC/your local authority. We'll try to reply as quickly as possible and will do so within 7 days.