From 2013 onwards, Housing Benefit - and many other benefits - will be phased out and replaced with Universal Credit.

If you’re getting help with your rent now and it’s being paid directly to your landlord this will stop. Instead your monthly Universal Credit payment will include the money for your rent and you'll need to arrange to pay it yourself.

More Information

It's worth Noting that it starts from October but there's no clear day of when Wirral will start but they have a guide how it will done,

The following benefits:
• Income based Jobseekers Allowance (from October 2013)
• Income support (from May 2014)
• Tax Credits (from May 2014)
• Housing Benefit (from October 2014)
• Income related Employment and Support Allowance
(from October 2014)
will be replaced with a single benefit called Universal Credit

I guess there will be a lot of landlords missing out on rents owed to them. Then there will be a huge increase in cases before the county courts, and many lengthy attempts to evict defaulters. Who'd be a landlord?

the plan was to pay the rent direct to the claimant but there are provisions for the rent to continue to be paid direct to your landlord and when will universal credit appear on the wirral well thats still a enigma.