If possible, we’d recommend you receive the payment of Housing Element of UC (rent) and pass this payment onto Soha, as the payment pattern used by the DWP can be confusing and will affect the balance on your rent account.
Although the DWP calculate your UC benefit for the calendar month, when your housing element is paid direct to Soha, regardless of your payment date, the DWP will pay your housing element (for the month) in line with their 4 weekly payment cycle. There is a further delay between the DWP advising you they’ve paid Soha and Soha actually receiving the payment to your rent account.
For example:
Mrs Smith receives her personal element on 6 January 2019 for the month 30 November – 29 December 2018
On 6 January 2019, the DWP also release Mrs Smith’s housing element (for the month) however they do not make the payment until their next 4 weekly payment cycle, on 28 January 2019.
As Soha has to wait for confirmation of the payment details to be received from the DWP, there is a further delay (approximately 7 days) before the payment can be added to the rent account
Also, as your Housing Element is paid every 4 weeks, payment of the Housing Element will not be received to your account every month, which will affect the balance on your rent account. Therefore, you should make additional payments to avoid recovery action being taken for rent arrears.