The government has updated the procedure for a landlord to request a direct deduction from a tenant’s benefits to pay for rent arrears and for it to be paid directly to the landlord.  It can be seen here.

Landlords can also request direct rent payments if these have not already been established. Even if your tenant is not in arrears, you can make a request.

Requests are looked at on a priority basis, but given the current climate, you may want to do this anyway as a safety measure.

There are some tenants that regularly miss payments and then make them up just before the landlord can request a UC47 so the history of persistent rent not paid on time is not logged anywhere. Direct payments can stop this, ensure that the tenancy continues and provide a landlord with evidence that persistent late payments exist. (handy when S21 is abolished and you are relying on persistently late grounds?)