Transfer of 3rd Party debts

We have two claimants, one was on UC and the other was on IR ESA. They became a couple and the IR ESA person then claimed UC

The one on IR ESA had deductions being made for water debts and rent arrears but we have just discovered that these have not been transferred to UC and we assume that the claimant is now running into problems because of non- payment,or is likely to soon.

I know other debts like repayments of benefit overpayments, repaying advances etc are automatically moved across to UC (in fact the cl is already paying back a budgeting loan).

Should the third party deductions have been automatically transferred to UC and if not should the cl have been notified that they would not be and they would have to contact the landlord and water board to set them up again?

Hi Pete

I’m afraid I don’t have a direct answer to your question but wondered if there’s been a change of address?

Deductions for water and rent arrears can only be taken with regard to property that claimant currently lives in, according to UC guidance

So that could cause some deductions to stop for party who’s doing the moving in?

The Third Party Guide to support households to move to UC says that 3rd party deductions end on managed migration and will need to be re-requested by creditor/supplier, so I wonder if that is what has happened here?  Although I know it’s not managed migration.  Perhaps that procedure has been over-applied.