Petition · past parliament

Change the way Rent is Calculated for Universal Credit

Rejected 12 signatures

What the petition asks

The Goverment requied all Councils and Housing Associations to reduce rents by 1%, from Monday 1st April 2019.However, there is 53 Mondays in the year. Universal Credit only base claims on 52 weeks, so everyone who has to pay on a Monday, over the year will lose 1 week rent in the calculation.
Claims are calculated based on income over the reporting calender month. This means for weekly paid people, their award changes, depending on if 4 or 5 pay days. 4 weekly paid people get overpaid 11 months of the year, but get nothing 1 month due to 2 pay days.
Child Care Costs are paid after they happen.
On Housing Benefit System, Councils paid themself as a landlord every Monday. Their tennents get their rent paid for 53 weeks in this year. UC should use the Rent cost over a calender year

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

5 Apr 2019 Petition opened for signatures
15 Apr 2019 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 12
Status Rejected
Rejected 15 Apr 2019

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.