To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when a recipient of universal credit accrues eight weeks' rent arrears and is moved to managed payments, how long will it be before they are moved back to direct payments.

Under universal credit we will return claimants to direct payment of rent once we are satisfied that they are in a position to manage their affairs. We expect that managed payments will remain in place at least until the outstanding arrears have been recovered. One of the failings of the current system is that decisions to move claimants to managed payments of rent are not systematically reviewed. How long managed payments remain in place beyond that will depend upon individual circumstance but we expect most claimants would not be switched back to direct payments for a further six months.