We had small protest outside job centre today in Cardigan , handing out leaflets about the impact of Universal Credit. A job coach wandered past and fair play to this individual did at least engage with us. But what he said was incredible, he had the audacity to claim that UC is the best thing ever and seeing more people better off. Denying UC causes a rise in homelessness and increasing debt problems. Tougher sanctions and long waiting times leaving people hungry is nothing to do with the roll out of UC we were told, and UC is not political. But it has a real human cost that is leaving thousands in hardship, in a monstrous Tory assault on the poor and the most vulnerable in our society. It is simply a policy of relentless calculated cruelty.
Even the Tory's mouthpiece on this issue Esther McVey;after being challenged over one estimate that three million people would be about £1,800 a year worse off, told the BBC "I have said we made tough decisions and some people will be worse off."
What Mr Job coach also did not say is that under UC, disabled claimants will face a controversial mandatory “health and work conversation” (HWC) in which they must provide information to a work coach like this guy about what jobs they can undertake, or have their benefits sanctioned. This will mean people who are often too ill to get out of bed forced into a jobcentre meeting. The DWP says not all disabled people will be required to do a “face to face” interview in the jobcentre when it is unreasonable to expect it, but campaign group Disabled People Against Cuts tells me it has already seen a case of a woman with a life-threatening illness and insufficient mental capacity being asked to attend an HWC.Expecting people with mental health problems, learning difficulties, or those battling illness to navigate a complex benefit system is particularly cruel – and early signs of universal credit so far are clearly worrying.
Universal Credit (UC) is supposed to simplify and modernise the income and employment support system for millions of households. The system’s implementation has, however, been punctuated by controvery over missed deadlines, botched IT development, and poor project management. Across the country there are tales of payments being late, payments reduced, pushing people already on the breadline even further over the edge,whilst many are unable to pay their rent . UC is widely seen as being cruel, a clear result of the Tory's conscious ideological cruelty that has resulted in a rise in homelessness and people using foodbanks, and making people with precarious mental health conditions health even worse. People unable to pay essential bills already suffering with anxiety and stress, a letter arrives about being in arrears, even if it’s only the first stage is going to send them into a tail spin. Another major flaw is that council tax support isn’t included. People automatically assume when they put a claim in for housing benefit that council tax support is included. The next thing they know they are in council tax arrears. It’s a bureaucratic nightmare.
The Trussell Trust, which runs the UK's largest network of food banks, has also released a raft of new figures as part of its annual report, giving the first systematic look at what impact the roll-out of UC has had on usage.It says there has been an average increase of 13% in food bank use across the country in the last year.https://www.trusselltrust.org/what-we-do/research-advocacy/universal-credit-and-foodbank-use/
We are living in very troubling times, under an incredibly cruel system, in which the poorest, the sickest and most vulnerable under the sheer pressure of trying to manage on nothing are plunged into poverty, causing stress, depression and in many peoples cases their tragic demise.
Well I'm sorry Mr job coach Universal Credit is political and it is clearly damaging peoples lives, you are justifying it because you are simply making a living from it. In addition, the government anticipates that up to a further one million UC claimants who are in low-paid work will be required to see a work coach like this person. UC payments, Jobcentre support, and the extension of benefit conditionality to around a million low paid workers are supposed to encourage more claimants to take up employment and increase their earnings. There is a risk, however, that rather than support ‘progression’, UC will encourage the growth of ‘mini jobs’ and further underpin the dramatic growth in part-time and low paid employment and also fuel in-work poverty.
It is a simple fact that people are not getting the support they so genuinely need. It is more than time to stop it and scrap it, and face reality, UC is a mess, it is cruel, fundamentally flawed, vindictive, unfair and simply doesn't work. As a first step at least the government could at least have the grace to admit it has got universal credit wrong and set about limiting the damage.
I personally am dreading when I'm rolled over on to it, really do not know what I am going to do. I'm not angry though I'm bloody livid. Real political opposition to it is however growing stronger every single day.
