Landlords have been warned it is simply not worth their time raising benefit complaints with the government’s Independent Case Examiner (ICE) or Ombudsman, and in doing so there is every likelihood it will disappear into the morass of similar complaints.

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A Universal Credit expert Bill Irvine says landlords are continually exasperated with having to make repeated applications for direct rental payments through an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) for Universal Credit and failing to get any  form of assistance or even a reply.

Ludicrously landlords are finding when sending complaints to ICE or the PHSO (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) are being given directives to go back to the DWP.

Irvine says: “The process is a shambles ICE used to write to the DWP and say there’s been a complaint and sometimes the DWP would respond – now they’re refusing to do that.”

He also tells landlords that to get any form of resolution from ICE will take between two to three years, and in cases where the DWP has been at fault landlords still find themselves out of pocket through its negligence.

Irvine advises: “You’re wasting your time if you’re looking for compensation. It’s better to escalate things through the DWP at a local level by continually following up an application and try to avoid using the word ‘complaint’, and call it a ‘query’ instead.”

A PHSO spokesman claims that Covid has affected its efficiency and has a backlog of 2,500 plus complaints.

He says: “We advise anyone who has a complaint regarding a service provided by Department for Work and Pensions to try and resolve the matter through DWP’s own complaints process first.”

Mick Roberts, has one of Nottingham’s largest private property portfolios of 36 let homes , has had innumerable skirmishes with the DWP but there are still a number of ICE cases of incorrect payments which remain unresolved.

He says landlords with benefit tenants are absolutely sick to death with processes in ever decreasing circles, Roberts adds: “I’ve tried to be loyal but I’m not going through this process anymore, it’s too much hassle – I’m just going to evict tenants. Tenants don’t complain, but they are the ones losing out as all this means they can’t move because other landlords won’t take them.”

Richard Merrick of PIMS,said:” According to taxpayer charity funded Shelter, if they're a council tenant who gets housing benefit, payments are credited directly to their rent account obviously with little fuss or painful application processes.”

Richard adds: “The laughable rebrand of the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government Department now known as Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is far from a level playing field.