THE number of council house tenants evicted each year in the borough is rising.

Last year, 92 tenants were evicted by Wigan Council due to rent arrears.

While this is only 0.04 per cent of all council house tenants in the borough, the number of evictions is up from 76 the previous year and just 59 in the year ending 2018.

But evictions have been suspended this year due to the coronavirus crisis.

The figures were revealed to councillors at a scrutiny meeting this week.

Leigh Journal:

Sean Melling, joint intelligence unit manager, said eviction is the ‘last resort’.

He said: “We recognise that the home offers stability which can reduce and cause crisis in individuals so the risk of individuals failing to pay might create increased costs in the council through other means.

“We want to make sure we support people to live well in their own home and address their needs with them and to that end, all attempts are made to support the residents in meeting their rent commitments. We do sit down with them – over the telephone these days or virtually – to have that conversation.”

He added: “If they are willing to engage and work with us, we don’t evict, but they need to show an appetite for change.”

“Universal Credit continues to have an impact and particularly the loss of direct payments to us as a landlord.

Labour councillor Sheila Ramsdale said she was ‘dismayed’ by the figures.

She said: “I know the council’s desperately trying to avoid eviction, but we’ve gone from 59 to 92 and I think given the way this Tory government is going to be operating with Universal Credit, we’re going to end up with hundreds of families out.”

Mr Melling also blamed the introduction of Universal Credit because, unlike housing benefit, it is not automatically paid directly to the council as a landlord.

But councillors on the committee pointed out that social housing providers can request alternative payment arrangements if tenants are in arrears.

Conservative councillor Adam Marsh, who posed the question, said: “I would expect the council to be utilising the procedure where they can request it.”

Vice chairman Anthony Sykes added: “If a tenant goes into too much arrears for only one month, we don’t really need to engage with the tenant.

“If a tenant is not engaging with us, we can go direct to the Department for Work and Pensions and as the landlord, we can apply for it to be paid to us.

“We need to do everything in our power to try and stop these 92 evictions from rising. In fact, we need to get them less.”

Mr Melling said the request must come from the tenant, not the landlord.

Landlords can request direct payments of rent or arrears by using an online service which replaces a previous process, according to the gov.uk website.