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Half of Universal Credit claimants in some areas could struggle to use the government’s online system because they lack IT skills and have limited internet access, local government pilots have found.

The findings come in a report by the Department for Work and Pensions about 12 local authority pilots of the new benefits system. It has been published as the Universal Credit system is rolled out to job centres in Oldham and Warrington, having been started in Wigan and Ashton-Under-Lyne earlier this year. 

Tenants on benefits are showing increasing signs of desperation as they search for private landlords who will accept them.  

There are the first signs of a possible tipping point in the rental market, with LSL today reporting that the number of tenants is dropping as first-time buyer numbers rise. 

A Communities and Local Government select committee report out today on the private rented sector said moving people out of London was the only way councils could mitigate the impact of benefit caps.

Cuts to benefits had left local authorities with too few properties in their boroughs where they could afford to house claimants, the MPs found. 

Chancellor George Osborne is considering lowering the benefits cap by a further £6,000, one of his aides confirmed today.

The Treasury will base a decision on whether to make the further cut depending on the effectiveness of the current benefit cap, which began its national roll-out on Monday, in reducing the welfare bill. 

Hounslow Council has launched a new incentive for landlords to help local families at risk of becoming homeless.

The scheme includes offering up to £1,000 for landlords to house tenants needing a home, and grants of up to £15,000 for improvement works. 

The government's total weekly benefit cap has begun rolling out across Britain.

Single parents and couples aged 16 to 24 will now only be able to claim a total of £500 a week in benefits, whilst people living alone will be capped at £350. 

Private landlords will be breaking the law if they let to illegal immigrants without first doing checks.

Penalties would be £1,000 per tenant for a first offence, and £3,000 for a repeat offence. Landlords with HMOs could lose their licences. The penalties would also apply to letting agents. 

Nearly 100,000 private tenants are now more than two months behind on their rent, according to figures published today.

During the second quarter of 2013, the number of tenants in severe arrears rose by 3.3% (to 98,000) on the previous three months, LSL Property Services reports. 

Census figures newly released show that the number of private tenants has doubled, while the proportion who own a home has fallen sharply.

The figures from the Office of National Statistics show that one in five families in England – equivalent to 1.2 million households – was renting from a private landlord in 2011, a number that has doubled since 2001.