Last month’s ruling centred on Roberts’s claim that it was unlawful for the DWP to pay the £460 rent element of his benefits and a £44 deduction for alleged rent arrears direct to his landlord, Guinness Partnership, without consulting him.
Stephen Timms, the minister responsible for universal credit, said: “The benefits system needs urgent reform and we are taking action across the board to do this – whether that’s tackling the huge accumulation of debt by carer’s allowance recipients through no fault of their own, or this automatic deduction of benefits purely at the request of a landlord.”.
The work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, confirmed on Monday night that the DWP would not appeal against the judge’s decision and would examine ways to replace the automated program with a system that gives tenants more say over benefit deductions.
Ministers are to scrap a controversial “computer says yes” program that automatically approves landlord requests to deduct hundreds of pounds from tenants’ universal credit benefits without their consent.
The DWP review is expected to include similarly automated benefit deductions made without the claimant’s consent by the DWP on behalf of utility companies for non-payment of water and fuel bills.
