Four main themes emerged regarding the advantages of paying HB to the claimant:
• Awareness and certainty • Control and responsibility • Simplicity
• Concealment of HB status.
Firstly, many people who preferred claimant payment explained that this method gave them a greater awareness of the status of their HB and rent payments. People knew how much HB had been paid and when, and could be certain that the rent had been paid in full and on time, having done this themselves. Moreover, this arrangement meant that the claimant was quickly aware of any delays or problems with their HB claim and could take steps to clarify or address the situation. One pensioner, renting from a housing association, recounted two occasions where she had been unaware of a stoppage to her HB and had only been alerted to this several weeks later by a letter demanding over £1,000 in rent arrears. As a result of this experience, she was keen to change to claimant payment in order to avoid similar problems in the future.
Secondly, for some people, a preference for claimant payment was linked to a general wish to retain control and responsibility for their finances, a view that was also found by the LHA Pathfinder evaluation (Anderson et al., 2005; Roberts et al., 2006). These claimants were among those who had also mentioned a desire for awareness and assurance that the system was operating smoothly, indicating the close association between these issues. While differences were slight, the issues of awareness, ownership and control seemed more often to be of concern to
pensioners and young people, as compared to families. There also seemed to be a greater tendency towards these views among claimants on partial rather than full HB, perhaps reflecting the slightly more complex nature of these claims.
Additionally, a small number of people stressed their belief that it was not the
Table 4.1: HB payment method preferences
Preference for Preference for No preference Total
claimant payment landlord payment
Currently has claimant payment 22 1 1 24
Currently has landlord payment 5 51 2 58
H O U S I N G B E N E F I T P A Y M E N T P R E F E R E N C E S
landlord’s job to deal with the HB office. Some felt that it was unfair to ask their landlord to manage the calculations involved in a partial HB payment, while others felt strongly that their HB claim was a wholly separate matter from their tenancy agreement. The former was an arrangement between the claimant and the council and the latter between tenant and landlord.
A third common theme amongst those who preferred claimant payment was that it was a simpler arrangement for people on partial HB. Unsurprisingly, this
perspective came predominantly from people who were in this situation. They felt it was more straightforward for the claimant to receive HB and then to top it up as necessary before passing the full amount of rent on to their landlord. Claimant payment was also seen to be simpler where the payment cycle of HB did not match with the date the rent was due. Where rent was due calendar monthly, but HB was paid fortnightly or four-weekly, some people felt that it was easier for the claimant to receive the HB and pay the full rent on the date it was expected by the landlord. However, some of these claimants (predominantly private sector
tenants) noted that, were their HB to cover the full rent, they would not mind changing to landlord payment, as this would then seem the more straightforward method.
Fourthly, some people noted that claimant payment potentially allowed their HB status to be concealed from the landlord, should this be necessary, a finding that is consistent with the results of the evaluation of the LHA Pathfinders (Anderson
et al., 2005; Roberts et al., 2006). Several people referred to the reluctance of some private landlords to let accommodation to tenants on HB, a perception that is supported by research evidence (Bevan et al., 1995). As such, claimant payment potentially widened the range of rental opportunities in the private rented sector. Indeed, some people who were living in supported accommodation or had been allocated privately rented accommodation having been homeless stated that, were they to be seeking a private tenancy in future, they would prefer claimant
payment in order to increase their chances of securing accommodation in the sector. A smaller number of people referred more generally to the stigma attached to benefit status, and simply preferred their landlord not to know, feeling that how the rent was financed was their own business.
Other advantages of claimant payment noted by a minority of people included: • leverage with the landlord via the ability to withhold rent in lieu of
outstanding maintenance or repairs;
• the ability to use HB money flexibly within the overall household budget, alongside other income streams; and
• the potential to accrue a small amount of interest while HB was in their bank account.