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‘Partial’ Climbdown on Universal Credit Cut?

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Ministers mull partial climbdown on Universal Credit cut after criticism of soaring | User Walls

Ministers mull partial climbdown on universal credit cut after warnings of soaring poverty

Independent.

A partial climbdown on the looming cut to universal credit is being considered by ministers, to head off fierce criticism that huge numbers of people will be plunged into poverty.

The £20-a-week reduction would stay – but working people who receive the benefit would be allowed to keep more of their earnings, under the proposal.

The so-called “taper rate” – the amount a claimant loses for every extra pound they earn – would be reduced from 63p to 60p, if the Treasury agrees the move.

Guardian:

The Currant Bun says,

Millions of Brits face a cost of living crisis this winter — with food and gas prices rising as benefits are slashed and furlough ends.

Ministers at the Department for Work and Pensions, fearing a backlash, have reportedly handed Chancellor Rishi Sunak a package of options.

This could reduce the impact of the impending cut with extra spending in other areas.

The options include giving extra cash to councils for emergency assistance funds.

Also being discussed is reducing the taper rate for Universal Credit from 63 to 60p.

That would mean workers keep more of what they earn.

It looks like few, if any, of our contributors will he helped.

This is a surprise….

Written by Andrew Coates

September 24, 2021 at 9:03 am

Posted in Conservative Party, Cuts, DWP, Universal Credit

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As One Britain One Nation Day Approaches Nearly Half Universal Credit Claimants Have Benefits Reduced.

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Strong Britain, Great Nation

One Britain One Nation Day is due to be celebrated in schools on Friday through the singing of a patriotic song.

Almost half of Universal Credit claimants are having their monthly benefits reduced

Mirror.

Almost half of Brits on Universal Credit are not getting the full benefit payment every month because they are paying back debts to the DWP.

Some 45% of all claims in February – 2.2million – had a deduction, meaning the claimant did not get their full entitlement that month.

Many were people who took out an advance from their own future benefits – to bridge the five-week wait for their first UC payment.

Some 49% of all deductions, worth £86million in February alone, were to pay back an advance.

The DWP claim there is nothing wrong with this, because advances mean people are being paid the same amount of benefits over a longer time.

But campaigners say the five-week wait must be scrapped, because many skint Brits have no choice but to borrow against their own future benefits.

Update, now Trending:

Written by Andrew Coates

June 23, 2021 at 1:36 pm

Posted in Conservative Party, DWP, Universal Credit

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Universal Credit “Has not Worked” – Labour.

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Image

 

While we are waiting for the Budget this week…

 

No clear answer yet:

Universal Credit ‘has not worked’ and must be scrapped, says Labour

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds says Universal Credit system needs radical reform but for now the £20 uplift must be retained during the pandemic

Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds has declared that Universal Credit “simply has not worked” and should be scrapped.

The call from Labour’s finance chief comes as claimants wait to hear if a coronavirus top-up on the benefit – £1,040 a year, equivalent to £80 a month or £20 a week – will be extended into the next financial year

Ms Dodds said the temporary rise for six million Brits must be “maintained during the pandemic” but in the long term, the welfare scheme must be replaced.

She spoke about Universal Credit on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, where she said: “In the near term what we’ve got to do is be clear to families that in the middle of a pandemic, they should not be seeing £20 less a week coming in when they’re struggling.

“In the longer term, what we really need to see is radical reform, scrapping that Universal Credit system because it simply has not worked for families.”

 

Today:

 

 

 

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Written by Andrew Coates

March 1, 2021 at 10:28 am

Posted in Conservative Party, DWP, Universal Credit, Welfare Reform, Welfare State

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Food Banks and Universal Credit.

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Queuing for a Soup Kitchen in Glasgow.

 

 

xclausx signals this.

Shocking photo of 200 queuing for soup kitchen in snow lays bare problem of homelessness

When exactly did Food Banks become an established part of life in the UK?

In theory social security was meant to cover people’s basic needs, with enough money to get what you need to eat as a part of benefit levels. The welfare state is based on rights, a kind of universal insurance, but also a a minium protection for all,.

There are countries without a welfare state, and those with such a small cover for those in need that food provision is the principal last resort for the poor, working or not. ” In the US the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal nutrition program. Known previously as “food stamps,” SNAP benefits can help you stretch your food budget if you have a low income. SNAP (food stamps), D-SNAP, and WIC for women, infants, and children. “

That said, people have fallen through that net for a long time (dole is very limited, and can simply come to a complete end after a fixed time), soup kitchens, have been part of the US landscape for decades.

The idea is that people should succeed if they merit it. Real failures, ‘losers’ as they call then, should have to reply on the generosity, if they can get it,  of strangers. Or go to the gutter. If really genuinely unfortunate the kindness of charity is available,

The world’s first food bank was established in the US in 1967, and since then many thousands have been set up all over the world. In Europe, which until recently had little need for food banks due to extensive welfare systems, their numbers have grown rapidly since the 2006 and even faster since the global economic crisis.

In the UK, traditionally food hampers have been given out to the elderly and vulnerable members of communities at Harvest festivals and at Christmas but all year-round hunger has been a prominent issue since 2007 and has dramatically increased since 2011. Most, but not all, UK food banks are co-ordinated by The Trussell Trust – a Christian charity based in Salisbury which serves as the UK’s only food bank network. The Trussell Trust was established in 2000; in 2004 they only ran two food banks but as of August 2012 a massive 252 were being operated.

In the UK, a food bank is not a “soup kitchen”. Whilst the majority of food banks do give food directly to the hungry it is done by the issue of a voucher system which is issued from a third party. Soup kitchens can be accessed by the hungry without the intervention, assistance or referral of any professional body.

The History of Food Banks

Trump did this at the end of 2019,

Nearly 700,000 Americans to lose food stamps under new Trump policy

Hundreds of thousands of Americans who rely on the federal food stamp program will lose their benefits under a new Trump administration rule that will tighten work requirements for recipients.

The move by the administration is the latest in its attempt to scale back the social safety net for low-income Americans. It is the first of three proposed rules targeting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as Snap, to be finalized. The program feeds more than 36 million people.

The plan will limit states from exempting work-eligible adults from having to maintain steady employment in order to receive benefits.

Trump admirer (“Jacob Rees-Mogg MP says he would vote for Donald Trump” and Brexit fanatic Jacob Rees-Mogg, now Leader of the House of Commons said in 2019 that,

The voluntary support given to food banks is “rather uplifting” and “shows what a compassionate country we are”, Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.

He told LBC radio the only reason for the rise in their use was “that people know that they are there”.

..

“To have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens I think is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are,” he said.

“Inevitably, the state can’t do everything, so I think that there is good within food banks.

“The real reason for the rise in numbers is that people know that they are there and Labour deliberately didn’t tell them.”

Thérèse Coffey agrees,

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey has described food banks as the “perfect way” to help the poor.

 

The Honourable Lady is right to praise volunteers at her local food bank who support vulnerable people in their area.  The Honourable Lady is right to praise volunteers at her local food bank who support vulnerable people in their area.

“Marrying the two is a perfect way to try to address the challenges that people face at difficult times in their lives.

“The Hon. Lady will be aware of the work that we have been trying to do with the Trussell Trust, and I am pleased to say that we will also be having a roundtable of independent food banks to understand how we can help them and their customers to move forwards.”

You have to say that if Universal Credit is such a success, why on earth do we need these providers? Do we want to a society, a Trump utopia, where the poor dutifully queue for food? What about rights and equality, the right to a minium decent living standard for all?

Trump has gone. His fellow national populists in the UK should be booted out..

But now this is what people are saying,

https://twitter.com/jrf_uk/status/1359108381710163969?s=20

Here is what Moggy is concerned about today:

 

 

Written by Andrew Coates

February 11, 2021 at 4:41 pm

Posted in Conservative Party, Cuts, Food Banks, Thérèse Coffey, Tories, Unemployment, Universal Credit, Welfare State

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Thousands of New Work Coaches Being Recruited.

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Suffolk Coastal: Therese Coffey MP appointed Beer Parliamentarian of the Year after visiting all 118 pubs in her constituency | East Anglian Daily Times

Thérèse Anne Coffey Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

People begging in the streets have began to reappear in Ipswich.

There is at least one outside Sainsbury’s in Upper Brook Street every day.

But …

Jobcentre to recruit 170 ‘work coaches’ amid Covid-19 crisis

East Anglian Daily Times. 19th of November.

Jobcentres across East Anglia are to recruit 170 “work coaches” to help people find work during the coronavirus crisis.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) – led by Suffolk Coastal MP, Dr Therese Coffey – is now recruiting thousands more work coaches in Jobcentres across the UK to help give people the skills they need to find new work.

”’

The 170 work coaches being recruited across East Anglia will also provide “expert mentoring” through people’s job search, with the DWP telling applicants: “Your tailored coaching can make a huge difference to their ability to find, stay in and progress in a job.”

The department, which has also brought in the Kickstart scheme to help young people and the JETS programme to give expert help to those out of work for three months, added: “More expert work coaches means more personal, tailored support for jobseekers who are looking to get going with a new career or to move on from a struggling sector.”

Dr Coffey added: “Work coaches deliver invaluable local employment advice, opportunities to develop skills for new sectors and vital new job support schemes su”tach as Kickstart and JETS, which we have put in place to give everyone the chance to succeed and will help drive East Anglia’s economic recovery.”

It hard to think of more irritating expression than Work Coach, but “tailored support” comes close.

Meanwhile:

Written by Andrew Coates

November 20, 2020 at 10:20 am

Posted in Conservative Party, DWP, Suffolk, Thérèse Coffey, Unemployment, Universal Credit

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