Database: Households on Universal Credit
Field: Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord Indicator
Description
The Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord indicator shows whether a payment of Universal Credit has been made to a landlord for a given month via a Universal Credit Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord. For the indicator to be shown as 'Yes', the household must have a housing entitlement, the claim must be in payment, and at least part of this payment must be made to the landlord. The claim must also have a Universal Credit Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord in place. Households where the claim is not in payment, or where there is no housing entitlement, or that do not have a Universal Credit Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord in place, will always have the Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord indicator shown as 'No'.
Classification
Applicable to: Households in Scotland
The Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord indicator field can take the following values:
Total number of categories: 2
Quality Statement
Households with this arrangement have been identified by observing whether a Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord is recorded on the Universal Credit Full Service system (UCFS). The specific amount paid is not used within this data.
Claimants living in Scotland may make arrange for a Direct Payment to Landlord through Scottish Choices in which case they will be included here, or through the National DWP system. Claimants with arrangements through the DWP system (also used by England and Wales) are not included in the count for this variable. There is a separate variable called Managed Payment to Landlord for these cases.
A small number of households located in England, typically near the Scottish border, may be eligible for the Scottish Choices Direct Payment to Landlord arrangement. Therefore, a small number of households counted within this variable may not live in Scotland.
During rollout of Universal Credit, the types of claims accepted varied for different regions. This led to regional differences in the number of claims where payment is made to a landlord. As such, figures from before December 2018 (when rollout was complete) should be carefully considered before any inferences are drawn around geographical differences in the proportion of claims involving direct payment to a landlord.