Together they manage close to 300,000 properties – about 30% of the council housing sector ­- and the survey shows the amount these households owe has risen by 11 per cent to over £60 million. The average amount owed by each household in arrears rose from £427 to £527, up 23 per cent – about an additional week’s rent.

“Income managers are very clear about the causes of this increase,” says NFA Lead Policy Officer Lisa Birchall, author of On the Edge, a joint report from the National Federation of ALMOs and the Association of Retained Council Housing.

“Many households in the sector are battling poverty, despite two-thirds of council tenants being in work. A welfare system that was already not fit-for-purpose or funded sufficiently before the cost-of-living crisis hit has made matters considerably worse.”

Based on these findings, councils and their ALMOs want government to:

• Increase the basic Universal Credit element to cover the essentials of housing, food and heat.
• Stop paying Universal Credit in arrears;
• Improve benefits for those in short-term, fluctuating employment;
• Set a minimum level of benefit to stop deductions pushing families into destitution and to the brink of homelessness;

Chloe Fletcher, the NFA’s Policy Director, said: “Even tenants with some of the lowest rents in the country are really struggling to make ends meet. Our members house some of the poorest and most vulnerable families in the country and our officers are telling us they are the ones being hit hardest by the current cost of living crisis.

“Wages and Universal Credit should cover the essentials, and it’s clear they don’t. Fundamentally, families need more money in their pockets at this incredibly difficult time.”

Paul Price, Managing Director of ARCH, said: “This survey provides clear evidence of just how difficult it is for hard-working families to function as they should in this cost-of-living crisis. We can already see that fuel costs during this coming winter will leave many juggling difficult choices between eating and heating. This just cannot be right, and government needs to provide sufficient support for these families so that they can survive.”