(Warning - long post!)
Things that are bad about Universal Credit (mainly from direct personal experience). I've deliberately used links from sources across the political spectrum.
- It was concocted by a group of people who have, in all probability, never gone hungry in their lives, or had to worry about how to afford new clothes or shoes, or the next mortgage or rent payment or bill. It's unlikely that they have ever come into contact with many people in those circumstances, either. In fact, I believe most of those so keen to deliver UC can claim the majority of their expenses - and they do. They belong to the group of people who "forget" to declare hundreds of thousands of pounds of income from property, overseas deals and God knows what else, but somehow remember to claim things like 49p for a pint of milk or Kit-Kat when "on duty" allegedly serving the British public - www.express.co.uk/news/politics/634902/MPs-make-claims-milk-worth-49p-teabag-expenses. Around 20% are so committed to their parliamentary and constituency work that many of them somehow also find time to work as lawyers, businessmen, farmers - www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/03/nearly-one-in-five-mps-have-regular-paid-work-outside-parliament; it's unlikely that they would ever find themselves in the position of losing their livelihood, but if they did, the "revolving door" of quangos, combined with their family, old school tie, university and professional networks would almost certainly pick them up within a few days.
- With UC there is, if you are lucky, a MINIMUM five week wait from when you claim to when you receive any benefit. And now that I'm on that particular hamster wheel, I'm reluctant to claim any housing benefit I might be entitled to for fear that I will be sent back to the beginning and the whole thing will start again. (I pay a small amount for board and lodging where I currently live.)
- Under the old ESA system, "permitted work" meant you could work 16 hours a week and earn £525 a month (approx) before it affected your allowances. Now, if you receive housing benefit, this has been reduced to £198 or £409 if you have "limited capacity to work". If you earn anything above those amounts, under the "earnings taper", your Universal Credit is reduced by 63p for every £1 you earn. In effect meaning you get to keep 37p for every £1 you earn. I haven't yet been able to establish if you're expected to pay tax and national insurance out of that 37p. But if anyone can explain to me how, exactly, that is "encouraging people to go back to work" I'll be thrilled. Maths never was my particular strong suit, after all.
- UC is paid monthly in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (fortnightly in Scotland in some cases). If you are someone who is used to living week to week, this is a HUGE shock. Even if you're someone who has previously been in employment where you're used to having to budget monthly, it is still something of an adjustment. Also, see previous posters' comments about the 5 week months. Although they haven't affected me yet, I'm sure they will at some point.
- If you declare work or self-employed status, in the case of most freelance or zero hours contract people (which is lots of us these days - delivery and taxi drivers; healthcare staff; writers; audio transcriptionists; cleaners - the list goes on), then your income is likely to fluctuate month on month. You have to report the amount you have earned every month in time for your payment to be processed. Your Universal Credit will be stopped if you have not been made aware that you need to do this, and miss a statement, or if you earn £0 that month and don't let the DWP know. I am not making this up.
- If you declare self-employed status because you are trying to ease yourself back into the world of work by doing a few hours' work from home after being ill, you have to have a self-employment meeting. If you need someone to accompany you [in my case my health professional has very kindly said they will accompany me] and the date you can make for your review is after the date you would normally receive your payment, your benefit is suspended until you have had that meeting. In my case this means I will probably not receive any money until after Christmas so, apart from PIP, I will have had no income for two months. Luckily I don't have any young children who might be looking forward to Christmas and what Santa might bring. The spirit of Scrooge is alive and well and being channelled in the corridors of Whitehall.
- My health visitor was a little late for a recent home visit because she had been helping someone sort out their UC. They had spent OVER AN HOUR on the phone just trying to get through to the right department. I'm not entirely sure this is what the NHS means when it puts "any other duties commensurate with grade" at the bottom of its job descriptions, but as my health visitor is a kind and compassionate human being they didn't feel it was right to leave the UC claimant to rot/starve/commit suicide.
I've personally lost track of how many hours of my life the UC system has swallowed up so far. There is only one phone number listed on the UC site when you log in and it often isn't the right one. And whoever decided that Handel's Water Music is the correct "hold" music should be locked in a room for 24 hours and made to listen to it in surround sound. I think it's supposed to soothe you. It has only had the effect of making me hate Handel. (And I like classical music.)
8a. The use of food banks is up significantly in UC areas. The government denies any correlation. news.sky.com/story/line-18-food-bank-use-four-times-higher-in-universal-credit-areas-11343772
8b. In fact, some MPs appear to see food banks as a PR opportunity. www.thenational.scot/news/17270807.four-tory-mps-take-food-bank-photoshoots-to-a-new-level-of-poor-taste/
- Rent arrears have increased in UC areas. The government refuse to admit any correlation. (You'd think they'd have a vested interest in this one, really, given how many of them actually make income from property. www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/16/universal-credit-rent-arrears-soar and www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/almost-one-in-five-mps-are-landlords
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Suicide rates and deaths are up in UC areas. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/universal-credit-benefits-suicide-stress-mental-health-welfare-conservatives-report-a8636661.html
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The UN has criticised UC in particular following its recent visit to the UK, pointing out that single parents in particular are suffering disproportionately. The government has dismissed the entire UN report. Presumably as they didn't visit Central London but instead went to places outside the M25, including several in the north. www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/16/welfare-system-cruel-misogynistic-un-expert-warns-damning-report/
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Previously, the civil servants having to attempt to deliver this system would have been experts in their own benefits - housing, employment, DLA etc. Now, they are expected to know all of the benefits. The UC system has been criticised in particular for its inflexibility. And I've personally found that the local civil servants, who understand the area and the difficulties, for example, of finding suitable work with particular health conditions, are extremely helpful; however, those working out of the impersonal centralised call centres do not have the same level of local knowledge and are much more likely to just read from the script. That's when they're not reprimanding you for getting a bit upset about the fact you might not be able to eat for a few weeks. I mean, I'm a dab hand at concocting meals out of fruit and vegetables that would normally end up in the compost and almost all meals are made from scratch, batch cooked, and leftovers stuck in the freezer, but even so, a diet of porridge, parsnips and potatoes isn't exactly the most exciting in the world.
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If you are claiming free NHS prescriptions or treatment, you will often receive penatly notices even if you are entitled as, despite the fact this system was devised in 2013, there is NO BOX on the back of the NHS prescription form for you to tick for Universal Credit. (What made this even funnier is that I actually didn't claim my prescription charges for a year despite being entitled.) Luckily, you can appeal and from the slightly exasperated although helpful tone of the NHSBA helpline staff when I have phoned up, they're getting A LOT of these calls.
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I have friends and neighbours with MS, Parkinson's, the chronic aftermath of a stroke in their 30s, other chronic physical disabilities, and a brain tumour whose lives have been adversely affected by this regime. None of them set off to be ill, but life happened, unfortunately.
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You have to do the majority of the UC claim online. If your only online access is your phone, and your network goes down (yes, 02, I'm looking at you), then you're rather lost. We used to have these things called public libraries, but, oh, the government cut funding to them as well. They didn't only lend books. They also provided computer access and warmth and a welcome to all kinds of people. Some of them even had paid staff who were happy to try and help people with this kind of thing. They've been replaced by volunteers now, in many cases, under the "Big Society" smokescreen, or the libraries have closed completely.
And I'm extremely fortunate compared to many - just a simple search on the Internet for "Universal Credit" will bring up so many stories of individual suffering.
I'm sure it all looked utterly fantastic when it was being dreamed up in a secluded, overheated Whitehall bunker/think tank with unlimited coffee and hobnobs, but in the real world, it is extraordinarily cruel.
And like so many half-baked government projects that only consider the financial and not the human costs, it is actually going to end up costing more than the system it replaces. inews.co.uk/news/uk/universal-credit-cost-dwp-more-benefits-system-new-study-resolution-foundation/
I truly don't know how anyone with half an ounce of compassion or humanity or imagination can continue to support a government that is intent on delivering these policies, despite expert and international advice to the contrary. Although this current lot would probably deny the sky was blue.
I asked someone once how the people who devised these things slept at night. Their response was, "On a big fat pile of money, of course".
But hey, austerity is over. Although as Tom Watson referred to it recently, Brexterity is just beginning.
If I were a cynical sort of person, I might think that the current Brexit obsession was a terribly convenient smokescreen for diverting mainstream media attention from UC and its effects. But no, they're just delivering the will of the people. Or 51.89% of them, anyway. That's democracy for you....!