To ask how people will cope with Universal credit cut.

[ponyexpress22]

Surely they aren't going ahead with cutting it by £20 a week? I'm shocked that the government could stoop this low. What the hell are they doing.

It was only ever temporary and seeing as workers are now going to be paying 1.25% extra, it seems reasonable that everyone needs to take the hit.

Roughly 40% of UC claimants are in some sort of work.

Why did they give you an extra £20 a week for 18 months then if they didn't care?

Exactly!

Well they weren’t going to give school meal vouchers to millions of vulnerable kids this year so it doesn’t surprise me that they’d stoop this low. They only give a shit when it’s convenient for them to do so.

We are all going to have to tighten our belts.We cant keep on borrowing
Same with furlough people, some of whom and I emphasise some, have been better off as they have managed to save their transport fares
etc. Especially the London Weighting receipients.

Where would the money come from to make it permanent? Tax the squeezed middle even more?

The squeezed middle are people like me getting ‘squeezed’ from all directions with the NI increase and the UC decrease. Not everyone on UC is unemployed, in fact those who don’t work are more likely to be on legacy benefits. Me and my partner have worked all our lives but our situation changed during the pandemic meaning we needed to claim for a small amount of extra help.

@sleepygnome

It was only ever temporary and seeing as workers are now going to be paying 1.25% extra, it seems reasonable that everyone needs to take the hit.

You do know that workers also claim UC?

It’s not a race to the bottom but UC claimants where in no more need of £20 a week extra than any other claimants or any other person who was scraping by due to the pandemic.

It’s was always temporary and should of been treated as such by those who where given it. Same as school meals during the summer holidays/half terms it didn’t happen pre pandemic and I don’t expect it shall continue either for those that got them.

All my outgoings are as small as it's possible to be, I can't cut much further. My kids (5&6) do swimming lessons, and realistically I'll probably end up cancelling them, because otherwise we'll struggle too much. And then because I have 3 kids under 8, I can't take them swimming on my own because of the pool ratios, so they won't learn

Swimming lessons are very expensive!

Don’t they get free swimming lessons at school?

I taught my own DC to swim rather than rely on overpriced lessons. If you have a friend or two can’t you take turns watching each other’s kids so you can go to the pool with them?

Is it a cut though? It’s just going back to how it was before isn’t it?!
Maybe it should be looked at as being lucky to have got it in the first place because a hell of a lot of people got SFA.

Another disgraceful decision.

I really think it’s getting to the point where the masses need to rise up and replace the people who have forgotten that they are elected to work for us and not themselves and their rich mates.

This MP sums up the crazy gap that is being created.
m.tiktok.com/v/7005672332635294982.html?u_code=dkcb7m8ccac7im&preview_pb=0&language=en&_d=dkcb7mcll702j7&share_item_id=7005672332635294982&source=h5_m&timestamp=1631275774&user_id=7002668962538324998&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAKIUiIXyfXnuUaErqKDlyLTabBtDE5Aq_uQIl_Oq41S2fSHq2BUHQWvCWlzYMNVP2&utm_source=whatsapp&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=android&share_iid=7002669353280734981&share_link_id=56a3a3e3-53d5-4754-a286-79ae5be7e7cf&share_app_id=1233

It was never permnant.
Its is a return to how it was before.
It is hard as costs have gone up. However,to the person who had the lift and who said it was great as you could buy berries and melon not cheaper fruit.. do not feel this is exclusive to people on benefits .. we cant afford to buy other than aldi apples or super 6 veg either. Also .. that healthy food costs a fortune.. yes .. healthy expensive food does.. many countries eat well and cheaply.. very cheaply , as do out family. And Yes its boring . But you have to cut your cloth.
Please know that we are what you would call middle class.. you can still.be on a very limited income and be middle class. Not be able to put the heating on etc.. we will.be affected too its affectong the group you assume it isnt ... its not a race to.the bottom .

Not just the uplift being taken away though
Increase in NI too - 50% UC claimants work and pay NI

It’s not a race to the bottom but UC claimants where in no more need of £20 a week extra than any other claimants or any other person who was scraping by due to the pandemic

Except they were and they still are. They needed the extra money because they were furloughed and couldn't afford their income to drop by 20% or they had the DC home all day and couldn't afford the increase in gas/electricity or they couldn't afford the increase in food prices when supply issues meant they were stuck shopping at more expensive corner shops than the big supermarket with the cheaper prices, and so on.

I still don't understand why some by now still don't realise that so many people who receive UC are actually working! Hence why it replaced tax credits for those who meet it.

The fact that prices have gone up so much and with shortages on the shelves it is going to have such a massive effect on so many families.

I know to some that it doesn't seem like an amount that they would miss but to many others it is. Particularly with the cut off regarding housing costs that has been in place for a while.

It's very concerning as many individuals as well as families are going to be left struggling again. I know it was only meant to be a short term measure but it has helped people so much.

@Lostinacloud I really think it’s getting to the point where the masses need to rise up and replace the people who have forgotten that they are elected to work for us and not themselves and their rich mates.

It happens every 5 years and is called a “general election”. People keep on voting story so we keep on getting more of the same.

Tory, not story, obviously!

There is also the NI increase that is going to affect the many families and individuals claiming UC.

So many are hit with both.

It was never going to be forever, they kept stressing that. You could say why is it fair universal credit got £1,6000 uplift but legacy benefits didn't... I mean half of universal credits claimaints don't work and they still got it.
It's not a cut when it was never a promised forever thing.
Yes people will struggle - but this is what we get voting for torys! Maybe people will use their votes more wisely next time..

@Cinderss

Ah, I see the race to the bottom has begun.

Those on legacy benefits were welcome to switch to UC at any point, in fact they’ve been encouraged to do so.

Those earning too much to qualify for benefits, I wish it wasn’t such a bitter feeling. I hate that our circumstances the last year have got so bad that we’ve had to claim. I hope the bitterness doesn’t leave too much of a bad taste.

I am in what people refer to as the ‘squeezed middle’ and yes I am bitter. But not at people like yourselves who are struggling. It’s the people at the top who have somehow managed to become even richer during a pandemic who should be paying more.

Fingers crossed there are good things just around the corner for you and your family 💐

Seriously so many sick people on here.
Over the past 18 months prices have risen across the board, food to council tax, electric to petrol, if some of you toddlers can’t see that those hand to mouth and already claiming those benefits are going to be pushed across that line what a privileged world you live in.

The benefits are barely enough as they are, £80 loss per month is going to have such a detrimental effect on many families, but as long as you’re ok 🤔🤦‍♀️

• Should be tossers but toddlers will do!

Politics bullshit yet again....

Firstly, it's not a cut, it was a temporary uplift during a global pandemic

Secondly, they didn't ' almost not give kids meals', they gave every council funding every 12 weeks to be used for those that were impacted by Covid. There were no provisos around the money, ie people who weren't eligible for free school meals could still claim help, people who were working, people who were not from this country but were living here at the time, people self employed and affected by loss of income, those on furlough etc. Help for Not just those eligible for free school meals. That was so each council could decide how best to use the money dependant on their individual challenges. One Borough used the money to support food banks and have a central reserve. One council decided to issue money cards etc etc.

BTW, I am a single parent who received the uplift. Yes it made things easier. No I didn't think it fair that I received it and others couldnt who were struggling.

Why on earth people can't just stop with the division based on semantics and keep to actual political points

Some of the comments on here are proof of how well the governments little tricks work to redirect anger and hate. People begrudging people £20 a week just because they don’t get the same. People who are clearly happy that struggling people are going to struggle more now just because they didn’t get the £20 themselves.

And to the silly buggers who think the extra £20 a week was because the government care - its because a lot of their benefit hating voters suddenly found they needed UC when COVID took their jobs and they had to keep up the illusion that everyone on benefits lives a comfortable life.

It isn’t a cut though is it? It was a temporary uplift.

It was an uplift it was always going to stop same as furlough etc, we are still on tax credits and got a one off payment of £500, which was nice and most welcome but not expected.