A mum with a disabled daughter has been threatened with eviction over unpaid rent after a problem with benefits payments.

The mum was moved from the DWP UK benefits system to the Social Security Scotland system and housing benefit payments to her landlord were stopped.

The landlord, North Lanarkshire Council, then sent out a “notice of proceedings” for unpaid rent of £504.

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Alison, from North Lanarkshire, who we are not fully identifying to protect her daughter’s identity, said due to a delay in getting a face-to-face meeting with the housing department, said the arrears have since increased to more than £800.

When her benefits were stopped, she said she had no income for several weeks and was using food banks and “exhausted” her use of crisis grants.

Alison’s daughter received Child Disability Allowance.

She said due to a serious incident with her daughter, she missed a date for a renewal update form with the DWP.

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She said: “I was told our claim would be moved to Social Security Scotland and the equivalent child DLA benefit. It should have been an automatic transfer.

“I was receiving Housing Benefit, Income Support and Carer's Allowance.

“All of that started to fall apart.

“I found myself in the deep end and didn’t know where to turn. I spent hours on the phone trying to sort it out over the last four months.

“I’ve been to Citizens Advice and North Lanarkshire Council income maximisers and a social worker.

“I was being told all the time ‘we are nearly there, we just need more information’.”

Alison was served with a Notice of Proceedings over rent arrears on September 18.

She said it has started to affect her own health.

The mum said she has since started to get Child Allowance and has been told her Carer's Allowance should be backdated, but is now waiting to be moved to Universal Credit.

She said: “I’ve been told I can’t get housing benefit backdated so I will have to try to find the arrears.

“I have been told I can try to get a payment plan or pay the arrears out of backdated benefits. But until Universal Credit is sorted, I don’t have any income for myself.”

The letter she received stated: “This is to inform you that North Lanarkshire Council... may at any time during the period of six months, raise proceedings for that dwellinghouse on the following grounds.

“Rent lawfully due from the tenant has not been paid.”

It added: “We also inform you that we are seeking possession under the above grounds for rent arrears of £503.10.”

North Lanarkshire Council said there are no legal proceedings under way.

A council spokesperson said: “We contact tenants if we are aware of a change in their circumstances offering support and access to key services. We made numerous attempts to engage with [the tenant] but she did not respond to these.  

“In the interim, [the tenant] has now arranged to meet with one of our housing officers who will provide support and assistance. There are no legal proceedings or court action under way.

“We take a proactive approach and ask tenants to seek help and advice as early as possible to allow us to put support and referrals in place to help reduce housing crisis and prevent homelessness.”

Alison said she has been engaging with the council for months and they have delayed arranging a meeting until now.

A spokesperson for Social Security Scotland said: “We work with the DWP in a joint programme of delivery, including prioritising the safe and secure transfer of cases.

“If a person is already getting Disability Living Allowance for Children from the DWP, their award will be automatically transferred to Child Disability Payment and they will continue to be paid the correct amount with no gaps in payment and no impact on related benefits.

“We are committed to giving people timely decisions and if someone is eligible for Child Disability Payment when they apply, they will be paid from the date of their application meaning no one will lose out on benefits they are entitled to while we process their application.

“To protect people's privacy, we cannot comment on individual cases.”

Alison contacted housing campaigner Sean Clerkin of Scottish Tenants Organisation for help.

He said: “North Lanarkshire Council should not be issuing threats of eviction to tenants like Alison who was in a desperate state when she contacted me for help.

“She owes a relatively small amount of £503 and with the eviction ban pending this Notice of Proceedings should be withdrawn forthwith and instead the council should sit down with Alison who is willing to pay off these arrears through a payment plan.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “(The claimant's)  entitlement to DWP benefits was due to come an end in May 2022, we issued renewal forms in December 2021 but unfortunately those forms weren’t returned to us until July 2022 by which time the claim had expired.

“The renewal was subsequently treated as a new claim and so we immediately passed the application to Social Security Scotland, who are now responsible for benefits in this area.”