Universal Credit (UC) claimants, in areas of Scotland where the full UC service has been rolled out, can now elect to have the housing element of their benefit paid directly to their landlord.

Claimants can request this at any time through their online UC account and will be proactively offered it when their benefit is first set up.

SAL has long campaigned for tenants to have the choice to have their housing benefit paid directly to their landlord and we welcome this change, which has been introduced only in Scotland under devolved powers agreed in the Scotland Act 2016.