PREDICTIONS the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) would spell disaster for a borough featuring areas with high levels of deprivation have proved unfounded, a meeting has heard.

Darlington Borough councillors were told since the Government’s controversial new monthly payments system to replace benefits such as Income Support was launched across the town in June, it had “gone really, really well”.

Members of the adults and housing scrutiny committee said they had been surprised by the success of the system’s roll-out, following forecasts it would hit the town hard and trigger a jump in homelessness.

In January, the authority’s then leader, Councillor Bill Dixon predicted there would be a rise in families being evicted from private rented properties. He said:”Universal Credit in my view has been the single most savage attack on the people and our community and it is going to end in disaster.”

Anthony Sandys, the authority’s head of housing and revenues services, told the meeting figures showed most council tenants were effectively up to date with their rent after receiving UC payments.

He added: “We haven’t seen anyone coming through our housing options scheme saying they’ve been having trouble getting privately rented accommodation or being evicted for rent areas due to UC. Everyone will have their own opinions about UC, but in terms of how we have implemented it here in Darlington it’s been a real success.

“The Department for Work and Pensions have been really good – I know there have been problems elsewhere in the country, but in Darlington the Jobcentre staff have been really supportive of what we’re doing. When we do encounter problems with individuals, working together we can usually resolve those.”

“There’s going to be challenges ahead, there’s no doubt about that. But we are in a good position at the moment.”

Councillor Eleanor Lister congratulated the council’s staff, saying without their preparatory work the introduction of UC “could have been really awful”.

The committee’s chairman Councillor Marjory Knowles, said while the full picture surrounding UC remained unclear, early indications showed it was far from “all doom and gloom”.