Sharron Spice couldn’t afford to be out of work.
Often hired on short-term contracts with limited hours and already struggling to meet increasing rents, unemployment was a prospect the theatre company owner had always dreaded.
Then it happened in October 2019.
For four months Sharron searched for a new job, while soaring rent arrears ate away at her savings. Soon, she found herself in a desperate situation: claim benefits or be forced into a cruel battle between heating and eating.
As Sharron nervously started her claim for Universal Credit, what followed was a process fraught with difficulty from the outset, from computer glitches to serious debt.
‘You’re supposed to fill out the application online before attending an interview, but from the very beginning the system wouldn’t register my identity documents,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘It’s a process that if you’re not internet savvy, you will struggle with.
‘I had to wait for a few weeks for my first payment after making the claim, which then went entirely on my rent. Because my last salary had been £2,000 per month, I ended up getting £70 for the month and from the outset I had to start borrowing.’
Almost immediately Sharron was plunged into debt. With her monthly payments – now calculated at £368.74 due to lost income – barely stretching to cover her rent, and having fallen into arrears over council tax, the former administrator was forced to take out a budgeting advance loan.
Automatically deducted from monthly Universal Credit payments, advance loans are a measure designed to help claimants pay for emergency household costs, but for many, this does not relieve financial struggles.
‘My payments were failing to cover rent and other basic outgoings, and I soon struggled to afford even the basic necessities,’ remembers Sharron. ‘I was having to negotiate with my phone provider, and had to start buying food late at night so it was cheaper.
‘I started thinking about all the debts and how I’d become a burden to friends and family. I was struggling to survive. One night I was sitting in the living room when the electricity ran out – it was pitch black, and from that moment I remember thinking: what’s the point of carrying on?’
Overwhelmed that her monthly payments were barely covering rent, food bills and mobile phone charges, and facing the prospect of eviction, Sharron involved her MP Kate Osamor who lobbied her local housing association to avert formal action from being taken.
‘In many senses I’m lucky, as without my MP I would’ve no doubt been evicted,’ she says.
‘With the debts piling to an unmanageable level, the pressure was really building and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I lost my home.’
While Sharron has avoided homelessness for now, her struggle is reflective of a huge number of people at risk while claiming Universal Credit.
@msharronspice)" />Exclusive Freedom of Information data obtained by Metro.co.uk from councils across England reveals that more than 170,811 households approached their local authority as homeless while claiming Universal Credit between 2019 and 2023.
Figures also show that the number of homeless presentations from households in receipt of Universal Credit rose by more than half between 2019 and 2021, increasing from 23,730 to 36,598.
Meanwhile, 60,170 households claiming the monthly payment required accommodation in the year to June 2023.
However, the amount is expected to be higher, with a number of local authorities either exempting the release of information or failing to disclose figures within the 20 working-day time limit set out under the FOI Act.
What is Universal Credit?
Announced by the coalition government in 2010, Universal Credit was introduced in 2013 and combined six existing working age benefits, including jobseeker’s allowance and working tax credits, under one scheme.
For Charlie Berry, a policy officer at Shelter, there are a number of reasons why Universal Credit may increase an individual’s risk of homelessness, with compulsory five-week waits at the start of a claim often exacerbating financial hardship.
‘This is widely recognised for causing hardship because the only way to cover those five weeks is to take out a loan from the Department for Work and Pensions which you then have to pay back via automatic deductions,’ explains Charlie.
‘We find that while people are assessed as needing a certain amount of Universal Credit support, actually they’re not getting that every month. In individual circumstances, this effect can push people into a more precarious financial situation.’
Figures released by the government in 2021 revealed more than 190,000 low-income renters on Universal Credit in England were at least two or more months behind on their rent, with many struggling amid increasing energy and food prices.
It follows findings published by the Trussell Trust in 2022 which show that two in five Britons in receipt of Universal Credit were forced into debt during the winter with payments failing to cover bills and shopping.
Charlie adds that by failing to cover basic essentials, Universal Credit – combined with the deepening cost of living crisis and increasingly unaffordable rents – is impacting many claimants’ mental health.
Research published by Understanding Society in 2021 revealed 63,674 people experienced psychological distress between 2013 and 2018 due to the introduction of Universal Credit.
‘We know that these issues can cause people to live in extreme stress,’ she says. ‘It’s really damaging for children’s life chances and we know that those who do go under and become homeless end up living in temporary accommodation.’
Jasmine Basran, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the homeless charity Crisis agrees, but warns that without investment in the Local Housing Allowance rates, more and more claimants will be forced into homelessness.
‘Currently, Universal Credit is falling short,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘A significant factor is that Local Housing Allowance rates, which determine how much money you receive in Universal Credit towards your rent, are currently frozen, and have been since 2019. This means that as rents have risen dramatically, people are having to cut back on food and heating to cover this increase – and this is leaving people in dire straits.’
When *Zara was forced to move out to escape an abusive relationship with her two young children in August 2022, she could never have imagined living in temporary accommodation struggling to make ends meet.
Jointly claiming Universal Credit with her ex-husband, the mother of two spent the first few weeks on the floor of her friend’s living room while she lodged a new claim and registered as homeless with her local council.
‘It was really scary even just making the decision to leave the family home with two children,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘Although the abuse was happening, it felt like I was in a comfortable place even though it really wasn’t.
‘My friend was a single mother herself and had four children which meant my two kids and I had to sleep in the living room. I rang the council and explained my situation, in the hope I could find new accommodation. Instead they wanted to speak to my friend and asked her if she could house me for as long as possible.
‘My friend, understandably, said that she needed her own space for her children which is when the council eventually said they would put me in temporary accommodation in the form of a hotel.
‘While I was grateful, it was scary because it was just a single room with a sink,’ adds Zara. ‘There was no toilet in the room, so we had to go to a different floor to share it with others staying there, so I would often go to the library to use the bathroom during the day.’
Thankfully, within a month, the 41-year-old and her two children were transferred into a nearby Travelodge with a more spacious family bedroom and bathroom. However, as the single mum would soon discover, the lack of a kitchen made preparing nutritional meals near impossible.
With no hot food served by the hotel either, Zara and her family were soon forced to rely on daily takeaways which, as she explains, became increasingly unaffordable alongside her rent and other essentials.
‘Although my Universal Credit payments have been coming in regularly, living in the hotel has made everything so much more expensive. I have to do my laundry outside, tumble-dry outside and buy food outside,’ she explains.
‘I was having to constantly buy takeaways like McDonald’s or KFC for our meals because we could not cook in the hotel room, but this was becoming more and more expensive and is just unhealthy.
‘I ended up skipping meals so that the children didn’t go hungry and so I didn’t start falling into debt and risk homelessness again.’
For Zara, who is looking for work but can’t even afford the cost of childcare without falling back into arrears, the prospect of accumulating debt is daunting considering the majority of her Universal Credit payments go on rent.
‘I don’t want to be a person who is constantly in debt – I know my circumstances aren’t ideal, but I still don’t want to fall into the trap,’ she says. ‘It’s like a vicious cycle – even if I did take out a loan, I still wouldn’t be able to cover my costs.’
Analysis by the Child Poverty Action Group in 2022 revealed an estimated 1.8 million households on Universal Credit are having to live on significantly less than they are entitled to due to automatic deductions from monthly payments.
However, Siobhán Donnachie, a spokesperson for the London Renters Union, says that while there’s no doubt Universal Credit plays a significant role in eviction, homelessness can also be attributed to rents rising faster than incomes.
‘Rents have been passing inflation which means people just aren’t able to meet their payments,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘People can’t afford their rents now and those who received Universal Credit are much more vulnerable. Housing costs make up the biggest proportion of people’s budgets, particularly people privately renting, so we really need to see action on rent freezes in the future, because it’s only going to keep on getting worse.’
According to research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published in 2022, a third of the 11.6 million households earning £25,000 or less were pushed into arrears on their rent or mortgage, utility bills or council tax bills.
Zara is now receiving support from the Salvation Army which provides the family with regular access to a foodbank, homelessness outreach services as well as employment and benefit advice.
‘Without the Salvation Army, I’d be struggling even more without a doubt,’ she admits. ‘I think my children would be suffering, I’d definitely still be skipping meals and my health would be deteriorating.
‘Things will get better if I’m able to support my children by providing them a more stable home. But with electricity, gas, childcare and council tax bills I fear that my Universal Credit payments won’t go far enough and that makes me scared about whether I’ll be able to provide for my children.’
Thankfully, life is looking up for Sharron who has written a play inspired by her own experiences of claiming Universal Credit, and is now turning it into a web series called The Perils of Universal Credit, which will also tour across the UK.
‘It’s based on my story because I know that at some stage more people are going to end up having to claim Universal Credit, and they’re going to be shocked,’ she says. ‘Everyone’s a paycheck away from eviction and with the cost of living crisis, so many people are struggling to survive.’
For Andrew Connell, Policy Manager at the Salvation Army, until Universal Credit payments provide claimants with enough money to meet their housing costs, the risk of homelessness remains high.
‘Universal Credit simply reduces the overall ability of an individual to pay their rent when we consider the five week wait time and whether an advance has been taken out,’ he explains. ‘This is what we want the government to address.
‘What we’ve been calling on in particular is to replace the Universal Credit loan with a grant to give claimants breathing space and allow them to freeze their debt repayments for 60 days to give them a chance to get back on their feet.’
What the Department for Work and Pensions say
A spokesperson for the DWP told Metro: ‘We support millions of people every year making sure they get the benefits they are entitled to, including providing advances to those who need immediate help.
‘On top of this we’re providing record financial support worth around £3,300 per household, raising benefits – including Universal Credit – by 10.1% and have committed to raising the National Living Wage again.
‘We’re also supporting those struggling with food, clothing and other essential costs through the Household Support Fund while we bear down on inflation to make everyone’s money go further.’
*Name has been changed to protecty identity
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