Further punitive restrictions on Universal Credit are on the way.
Further punitive restrictions on Universal Credit are on the way
The latest development of Ian Duncan Smith’s Universal Credit scheme will soon mean that people made unemployed will have to wait at least five weeks before getting any financial support.
At present it’s two weeks; still a long time to wait when you have bills to pay and mouths to feed.
Some of this is administrative delay, but with the new five week wait it will be a deliberate strategy to force people into immediate work or push them into penury – the latter being more likely in an economy where jobs increasingly can’t actually fund even basic necessities like housing and energy costs.
That’s why the TUC have launched a campaign to ‘Stop the Five Week Wait’ as part of their Saving Our Safety Net project, launching a petition against IDS’ impoverishment strategy.
It poses a very clear question: how long could you go without any income? Even for those in work, many have to scrape together money from friends and family at the end of the month in what some call ‘scrounge week’. Imagine that week becoming five.
Why so long? A whole calendar month will be spent ‘assessing’ the amount of benefit you’ll be able to receive. Then you’ll have to wait a week for the DWP to actually arrange your payment.
But you’ll also have a week-long period when you will be unable to even apply for Universal Credit. The government is deciding whether this will be during the assessment period or beforehand, meaning potentially sixweeks in assessment, admin and spiteful restrictions.
And this from a government that supposedly hates bureaucracy and red tape.
There will be some emergency support available. But the rules on who can claim it will be so strict that very few able to claim Universal Credit will be eligible. Richard Exell at the TUC writes that “one reason for being turned down, for instance, will be that your family has debts that might make it hard for you to repay the advance.” Unbelievable.
The public are against it, understandably – by 70 per cent to 18 per cent when told about the policy. Even the vast majority of UKIP and Conservative voters oppose the wait.
But there’s a problem: just 13 per cent have actually heard of it. We need, therefore, to spread the word fast if there’s to be any chance of stopping this disastrous scheme going under wraps.
The policy can be summarised quite simply: the state safety net being outsourced to food banks and payday loan sharks. This is a government hand-out to Wonga and co, while returning to the Victorian welfare state of unreliable charity. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has branded it ‘cruel and vindictive’.
It comes in next April – just a month before the General Election. With a strong enough campaign, it can be halted or pushed beyond that date. So there is an opportunity for the opposition to succeed. Millions of people who might be made redundant over the coming years are relying on that outcome.
You can read the TUC’s report on the five week wait, Universal Credit: Solving the problem of delay in benefit payments, here.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
18 Responses to “Could you go five weeks without money? Under a new DWP plan you might have to”
squeed
And they give you a 75% of €188 Xmas bonus the first week in Dec.. €188 is the flat rate dole per week for a single adult over 24!!
Ste Murray
I have been waiting 3 months now
annoymous
I get paid 4th June which is a long way off and have used my last packet of golden rice which I don’t mind eating. I have lost a stone in weight becuase the last 2 weeks I just cant afford 2 meals a day and have to ask for help from my parents only that wont last as they have been doing it for too long. I have been on this system for 2 years with little chances of getting a job being 37. I ask for a simple part time cleaning job, why has that become so hard?? I cant afford bus fares as theyve gone up so I ride 45minutes to our nearest town centre which is fine but not in the rain. I am miserable, fed up of applying for jobs every day just to look forward to being paid again. I am anemic so my body is confused with the crap I am eating. I try to eat fruit and healthier stuff but you cant on u.c I miss Jsa as at least there were some better options even getting the old budget loans I am paying back my current advance through uc and cant get another one. I sometimes wonder why there is any point to this. I have cried a lot today just out of sheer frustration. You cant go on the sick on UC it doesn’t really work anymore. Surely some people have become better off but I just dont see it.