Town Hall finance chief Cllr Satnam Gill and, right, housing chief Cllr Diarmaid Ward

CORONAVIRUS has left more than 9,000 people in Islington without jobs and signing on for Universal Credit since the start of the lockdown, with £1million in social rent arrears recorded by the council in just six weeks.

Town Hall housing and finance chiefs say the stark figures highlight the scale of disruption to people’s lives caused by the outbreak, and the threat the lockdown presents to the financial stability of the borough – with £2.5m a month in income wiped off the council’s books.

On March 11 the number of people claiming Universal Credit in Islington was recorded as 13,356. After the UK went into lockdown on March 23, the number of claimants shot up, reaching 19,200 by April 1, before stabilising at around 22,697 on Monday this week.

Speaking to the Tribune, newly appointed finance chief Satnam Gill said the long wait for money through the Universal Credit system meant it was “very difficult” for social and private tenants to get themselves out of arrears once they had fallen behind on payments.

“Lots of people were laid off and told they couldn’t work anymore,” added Cllr Gill.

“They weren’t furloughed, otherwise they wouldn’t be claiming Universal Credit.

“Claimants typically face a long wait for Universal Credit to come through. There’s a lot of people who are now waiting for money to arrive.

“Tenants in this position are building up rent arrears, one, because they don’t have any money for five weeks, and two, they aren’t getting anywhere near the amount of money they used to get.

“The council’s arrears have increased by £1million during the lockdown. That’s only five weeks into the crisis, and that’s social tenants having difficulties in paying rent.

“Once people go into arrears it’s a killer to get back onto a stable platform.”

The Tribune has previously reported council leader Richard Watts warning that the council faced “difficult decisions” after the virus ­crisis punched a £40m black hole in its budget.

So far, the government has given the council £15.6m, made up of two payments calculated by adult social care spending and population numbers.

The council also received more than £57m to be distributed to 3,618 small businesses as grants based on rateable value, with just under £49m already distributed.

An extra government allocation of around £3m was sent to the council last weekend to help any businesses that have fallen through the cracks – such as businesses that don’t pay rates to the council.

“The council is losing £2.5m a month from areas like parking, social rents and the closure of leisure centres,” added Cllr Gill.

“With the increased costs of dealing with the crisis, it all adds up.

“There are very few local authorities that will survive without government help.”

Housing chief Diarmaid Ward said it was a “difficult time” for everybody, and confirmed the council would not seek to evict social tenants while the crisis is ongoing.

“We’ve got a very good record in helping our tenants who are facing trouble paying their rent, and I would urge anyone facing difficulties to get in touch with us,” he added.