Fourth Anniversary of the Benefit Freeze Plunges More and More People into Deep Poverty.

George Osborne Introduced Benefit Freeze (2015 Budget).

The 2015 Budget introduced a four-year freeze on most working-age benefits and tax credits. This meant that in 2016 and onwards their value remained as it had been in 2015 rather than rising with inflation.

Everybody knows the Benefits Freeze its biting.

On this issue the Government is not split between those who’d like to make Britain a US-style free-market economy, allied with Trump, and with a minimal post-Brexit Welfare state, and those who want to a decent standard of living for all, including those on benefits.

The free-market chancers in the Hard Brexit camp may be the worst in the long term, but each side at the moment is keep the disaster that is Universal Credit, and the linked Benefit Freeze going.

Just how mad and detached from reality they are can be seen from – potential leadership candidate, and present DWP Minister Amber Rudd’s recent tweet:

👉 From today, a working family or a disabled person claiming Universal Credit will be up to £630 a year better off.

👉 This is all part of our drive to ensure Universal Credit is working for everyone.

👇 Learn more about Universal Credit in @TheSun https://t.co/3M5psAdcV8

— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddHR) April 8, 2019

It’s good to know that the Currant Bun has gone back to the Tory fold, and has dropped its grating efforts to be the Universal Credit claimants best mate.

Perhaps they’ll run this “story”,

🤔 People often ask, ‘what are you doing to tackle homelessness?’

🙂 Well, meet Woolfy.

☺️ Thanks to the support offered to him by his Work Coach, Colin, he now has a home.

👇 Watch his inspiring story below. pic.twitter.com/jH8d9Nerlw

— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddHR) April 8, 2019

Cheery old Woolfy!

The cockles of your heart warmed you can turn to this:

Families likely to be ‘pulled into poverty’ by benefits freeze continuing for another year

The freeze – introduced in 2016 by the then chancellor George Osborne – entered into its fourth year on Monday.

Florence Snead continues in todays ‘I’

More families are likely to be “pulled into poverty” because of the benefits freeze continuing for another year, it has been claimed.

The decision to continue with the cap on working-age benefits and tax credits is “unjustifiable” and will leave families living in poverty on average £560 worse off over the next year, according to a charity.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said this was equivalent to three months of food shopping for an average low-income family.

In the midst of huge political and economic uncertainty, families who have already seen their support eroded know that the coming year will be hard to get through,” said the JRF chief executive, Campbell Robb.

“It’s not right that more parents will face impossible situations – trying to decide which essential bills to pay and what they can cut back on to make it through each week.

“Keeping benefits and tax credits frozen is unjustifiable: 4.1 million children are locked in poverty, nearly three-quarters of whom are in a working household.”

The organisation said ending the freeze would help working families to stay afloat.

“As the Government approaches its spending review, it needs to look at how best to protect people from harm who are otherwise left without an anchor in uncertain times,” Mr Robb added.

The JRF was among nine charities which wrote to the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, in February urging him to end the freeze this year.

It said continuing the freeze until April 2020 would result in 200,000 more people being locked into poverty.

Nigel Grey MP MP wrote on Monday on Politics Home:

Today marks the beginning of the fourth year of the benefit freeze. Like many of the UK government’s failures – the Windrush Scandal, the shambolic implementation and rollout of Universal Credit, the appalling neglect child refugees – if Brexit wasn’t happening, the disastrous impact of the benefit freeze would be plastered across the front-pages on an almost daily basis.

The benefit freeze was introduced by the Welfare Reform and Work Act in 2016, and freezes most working-age benefits at the same value as in 2015/16. In practice, what this means is that while Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 6.5% since the freeze was brought in, the benefits that many working-age people rely on have not increased at all.

This Tory government has implemented a massive real-terms cut to people’s income, and it’s having a catastrophic impact on people’s lives. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have said the benefit freeze will have affected more than 27 million people across the UK and will have pushed 400,000 people into poverty by 2020.

On top of this, with Brexit pushing up inflation, the benefit freeze will cut another £4.4 billion this year – nearly a billion more than intended out of the pockets of those least able to bear it.

Moral outrage

The freeze includes benefits for children, as well as support for disabled people looking for work. Targeting austerity at disadvantaged children and disabled people is nothing short of a moral outrage and this Tory government should hang their heads in shame.

Theresa May and her government have taken almost no action to boost support for people who rely on social security. In one year, the benefit freeze cut will more than wipe out the total investment in the Work Allowance boost up to 2022 that was announced in the 2018 Budget.

Advance payments of Universal Credit which are meant to help people during the five week wait are, in fact, just loans that have to be paid back to DWP. And the two-child cap on Child Tax Credit is taking thousands away from families with more than two children.

A tragedy and a farce

Moreover, the revolving office-door of the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is both a tragedy and a farce. The idea that the Department chiefly responsible for the wellbeing of poor, elderly and vulnerable people is being used as a platform from which Tory MPs can hop, skip or jump depending on which way the political wind blows is indicative of the contempt the UK government has for the disadvantaged and the marginalised.

The benefit freeze represents one of the biggest cuts to social security we have seen in recent times, yet Labour didn’t even bother to mention it in their last manifesto and the current DWP Secretary has shown nothing but apathy towards evidence of its terrible impact.

The cuts imposed by the UK government have and will further entrench poverty across the UK.

This is a political choice, not a necessity. One of the quickest ways this Government could put money back into people’s pockets would be to lift the freeze immediately and up-rate benefits with inflation.

 

Neil Gray is SNP MP for Airdrie and Shotts and the SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson.

The Moral Diseconomy of Universal Credit.

How the Crowd Reacted to Injustice in the Past.

It is possible to detect in almost every eighteenth-century crowd action some legitimising notion. By the notion of legitimation I mean that the men and women in the crowd were informed by the belief that they were defending traditional rights or customs; and, in general, that they were supported by the wider consensus of the community. On occasion this popular consensus was endorsed by some measure of licence afforded by the authorities. More commonly, the consensus was so strong that it overrode motives of fear or deference.”

Libcom: The moral economy of the English crowd in the eighteenth century – E. P. Thompson

Last night I listed to this on the wireless (with a mug of Co-Op 99 Tea…): Polling Badly. Archive on 4.

“Bad policy or badly implemented? Sarah Smith explores what went wrong with the Poll Tax. Have lessons been learned or is Universal Credit a repeat of history?”

The first thing that struck me about the Poll Tax was that the “Community Charge” was so disliked, without going into the obvious details, what that is went against the “consensus” that by right the poor did not get taxed as much as the rich. The better off (who make their money from the rest) should pay their whack out of their accumulated dosh. The Duke and Dustman having to fork out the same cash to pay for local services ran up against everything that people traditionally thought.

The programme then went into the way the Poll Tax was implemented.

A lot simpler than Universal Credit (UC) you may say.

One mob, the Tory lot, thought it a grand idea, since who cared about the poor – not them! – and it would all mean less expense for their well off crowd.

That was not the view of local authorities who saw their revenues crash as people either (1) could not or (2) would not pay up. (3) Disappeared from the electoral register so they would not even get a payment demand.

As E.P.Thompson might have said, the “crowd”, that is, everybody affected badly, got so angry that people rioted against it.

When they got to UC the focus was all about the implementation, the principle, putting benefits all together, was apparently, fine.

They didn’t go into much detail but it was obvious, bleeding obvious, that a system based ‘on-line’ would first of all run into problems (1) The private chancers who designed the computer systems are not bright enough to design a way to make this work properly, and (2) Not everybody is ‘on line’, able to use computers, get access to them, and all the rest. (3) Putting Coachy in charge of the ‘journal’ you are meant to fill in, as a religious duty…..

Next comes the detail, the way that waiting for weeks before you get money, sanctions, and the way that rent cash in hand can easily be spent immediately on other things.

Then there is the thorny issue of “in work” benefits with “conditionality”. That means people having to prove they are looking for better wages, for more hours, and the famous ‘job search’.

We could continue, and our contributors have.

Poll Tax Defeat.

The Poll Tax, they said on Polling Badly, was defeated because everybody was concerned.

And non-payment cut its roots out.

Not everyone is snarled up in Universal Credit.

But a hell of a lot of us are.

We cannot refuse to get paid!

But there’s a crowd of us all the same.

Universal Credit goes against the “Moral economy” principle that people unable to work should be entitled to a decent minimum to survive on, and those in work who need benefits should get them without being spied on, made to fulfill demeaning job search requirements, and not getting the money they need to live on.

This does not look like the end of the misery.

But Lo!

The “independent liberal conservative think tank”, “the modernising wing of the Tory party”,  Bright Blue has the answers……

Our recent report on Universal Credit is covered in the Birmingham Post. Read it here: https://t.co/XH1B931ikZ

— Bright Blue (@WeAreBrightBlue) March 16, 2019

Universal Credit proposal for ‘helping hand’ payout to end nightmare wait for cash (Birmingham Live).

Thinktank also suggests launch of Universal Credit phone app and live chat option

Among the problems associated with the Government’s new Universal Credit system are the nightmare five-week wait for the first payment and the online access that’s required.

These issues could be resolved if a series of new proposals are adopted, says thinktank and pressure group Bright Blue.

More  from the same ThinkTank: (TeesideLive)

DWP should pay compensation for late Universal Credit payments, report recommends

A think-tank has identified a number of issues, which could have helped hundreds of thousands of people

“A majority of claimants are coping with and adapting to Universal Credit.

“There are positive experiences with work coaches. And there are positive attitudes too: especially towards the single payment model and the use of conditionality.

“However, as it has gone from idea to implementation, the initial widespread support Universal Credit enjoyed has dissipated.

“Despite welcome improvements made by the  Government in recent years, there are too many examples and too much evidence of significant hardship experienced by a sizable minority of those on Universal Credit.”

Here is the report:

Helping hand? Improving Universal Credit

Ryan Shorthouse, Sam Lampier and Anvar Sarygulov

Happily, the Government has demonstrated that it will make changes to UC, based on the evidence, as it is extended to more claimants in the years ahead. The 2018 Budget, for instance, increased the amount available in the existing two work allowances and decreased the maximum rate of reductions for advance payments. The new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP, has also made changes by not extending the two-child limit on UC for children born before March 2017, launching a system where landlords can be paid directly, and starting ‘managed migration’ with a smaller pilot to monitor the rollout. More potential reforms to UC are also being examined, especially in relation to childcare costs and the single household payment.249

Here are their recommendations:

• all new claimants of UC should receive a one-off upfront ‘helping hand’ payment. (Is this extra money as such? the detail is the devil here.)
• claimant commitments should be rewritten to include obligations of individuals and institutions that support UC claimants. If these obligations
  are not met, the Independent Case Examiners should determine whether compensation to claimants is paid in their next UC award. (Note, yet more complications….)
• Introduce a new mobile phone app for people to access their UC online account (see comment above on people who do not have these devices and cannot use them).
• Enable claimants, through their online accounts, to grant continuous explicit consent for their advocates and to opt-out and personalise the default frequency and destination of their future UC awards (WTF!!!!)
• Introduce a live chat facility in the online UC account for claimants with queries and problems. (We all love chatting to Coachy..)
• Cap the number of UC claimants all work coaches can be assigned…. (Pious wish)
• Ensure there is a full-time disability and mental health specialist employment adviser in every Jobcentre Plus. (More Advisers butter no parsnips)
• Introduce a disregard for the repayment of UC overpayments where DWP is responsible for the error (Welcome).
• An ongoing out-of-work claimant,or claimant that still need to find further work, should be awarded a supplement on their future UC awards if they are consistently meeting the most demanding conditions around job seeking and preparation set by their work coach (Rewards for good girls and boys).
• Enter all claimants who are consistently meeting the most demanding conditions around job seeking 275. Centre for Analysis of Social
  and preparation set by their work coach into a new biannual UC prize, where a handful of claimants win £1,000 (You are having a bleeding larf!)
• Extend the 12-month exemption from the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) for self-employed UC claimants, so a further separate 12 months of exemption can be claimed at any point in their lifetime while an individual is on UC, after approval from a claimant’s work coach. (More devils hopping around the details, read the full text, it’s conditional….)

Nothing about ending the Benefit Freeze, getting rid of the sanctions regime, and the surveillance by Coachy.

Probably the only serious major point is the idea of restoring payment directly to landlords (in the initial summary), which they claim is underway.

As for their actual ideas…

Lots of bells and whistles says Ipswich Unemployed Action.

Government Rejects Benefit Sanctions Inquiry report call to change “inhuman” Sanctions Regime.

 

Our contributors could have already have said the following: “Benefit sanctions found to be ineffective and damaging. Study concludes that punishing claimants triggers profoundly negative outcomes”. (Guardian May 2018)

In fact some people who write here  are in dire straits because of this regime.

But the Government is still turning its face against facts’

Today:

Tories snub pleas to rein in 'pointlessly cruel' benefit sanctions
Beggars belief…sanctions are designed to stop claimants from claiming. All evidence inc the Government's shows that they FAIL to get claimants into work. They are INHUMANE! https://t.co/45cHVqiPdt

— Debbie Abrahams MP (@Debbie_abrahams) February 11, 2019

Government in denial about the impact of its benefits sanctions – @MGreenwoodWWhttps://t.co/CPfxcluXk4

— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) February 11, 2019

Margaret Greenwood MP, Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s publication of the government’s response to its benefit sanctions inquiry, said:

“The government appears to be in complete denial about the impact of its sanctions regime on people’s lives. It is damaging people’s health and well-being and leaving many at risk of destitution.

“There is no evidence that sanctions lead to people finding work that lasts and lifts them out of poverty. This government is so extreme that it has rejected reducing the length of sanctions and is even prepared to consider making them longer.

“The real way to help people into work is through an industrial strategy to deliver jobs and growth and employment support tailored to each person’s needs. Labour will end this government’s cruel and counter-productive sanctions regime.”

11 February 2019 Work and Pensions Committee.

No respite for “victims of a sanctions regime that is at times so counter-productive it just seems pointlessly cruel” in Government’s response

• Read the government response: Benefit sanctions
• Read the government response Benefit sanctions PDF (261KB)
• Read the report: Benefit sanctions

The Committee is today publishing the Government’s response to its report on benefit sanctions. While the Government has finally agreed to evaluate one aspect of the impact of its reforms to conditionality and sanctions – the “only major welfare reform this decade to have never been evaluated”  – it is looking only at their effectiveness in getting people into work. While this is clearly key, as it is the supposed objective of the policy, the Government is still not even considering the impact of sanctions on claimants’ financial and personal wellbeing. The widely reported detrimental impact of sanctions on claimants’ welfare formed the basis of the Committee’s report, when the Chair noted “We have heard stories of terrible and unnecessary hardship from people who’ve been sanctioned. They were left bewildered and driven to despair at becoming, often with their children, the victims of a sanctions regime that is at times so counter-productive it just seems pointlessly cruel”.

Negative impact of sanctions worked against people getting into work

Even confined to the question of impact on employment, the Committee found that the negative impact of sanctions actually worked against people getting into work, to the extent that the Government’s approach appeared “arbitrarily punitive”. No evidence the Committee received was “more compelling than that against the imposition of conditionality and sanctions on people with a disability or health condition. It does not work. Worse, it is harmful and counterproductive.”

The Committee’s inquiry highlighted the distressing stories of claimants like Jen Fidai, a young disabled woman forced to sofa-surf and sleep in the Uni library for a year, and ultimately give up her studies, after she was sanctioned  – erroneously, as it turned out. It is these impacts on claimants’ lives, and the countless others which the Committee’s report and ongoing shocking news reports only scratch the surface of, which the Government is refusing to assess.

Forceful recommendation by Committee rejected

The Government rejected the recommendation that claimants already found to have limited capability for work should be exempt from sanctions, and also rejected the recommendation that claimants who are waiting for a Work Capability Assessment  – the medical assessments for disability benefits PIP and ESa which the Committee has previously denounced as “riddled with errors and omissions”, and also subject to lengthy delays  – should be exempt from sanctions if they had a “Fit Note” from a doctor saying they were unable to work. Government says it is looking into the possibility of a general policy that conditionality shouldn’t apply to those assessed as having limited work capability and people waiting for a WCA – although this decision would be in the hands of Work Coaches, ignoring the Committee’s wider concern that leaving too much to Work Coaches’ discretion in terms of sanctions more widely risked leading to inconsistent practice. The Government also rejected the recommendation to define “good reason” for failing to meet a requirement that led to a sanction – currently left to work coach discretion, leading to inconsistent practice – in legislation.

The Committee’s forceful recommendation – in the face of distressing evidence of the impact of sanctions on lone parents and their children – never to dock more than 20% of a lone parent’s benefit, was rejected, with the Government promising only to assess the employment impact of sanctions on this group as well. The Committee has reported elsewhere on the particular, deep difficulties lone parents are encountering under the major welfare reforms of the decade, including in its report on support for childcare costs under Universal Credit

Once again, the Government’s position on a key recommendation – that claimants is no longer subject to the requirement, the condition, that led to the sanction should also have the ongoing sanction lifted: the Government rejected this recommendation – is difficult to square with the supposed objective of the policy.  If sanctions are about incentivising, for example, looking for work, it is difficult to see the point of continuing to punish someone for not making sufficient efforts to find work when they are no longer in fact required to find work.

Chair’s Comment

Commenting on the response, Committee Chair Rt Hon Frank Field said:

“Our report laid bare the inhumanity of the Government’s sanctions regime, which it has pursued for years without ever stopping to check whether it works or what it is doing to the people it is meant to “support”.

In response, the Government has failed utterly to grasp the seriousness of the matter. It talks about reviews and “proof of concept”: it might want to take a look at the concept of not pushing disabled people and single parents—not to mention their children—into grinding poverty and hardship.”

Tories SNUB pleas to rein in ‘pointlessly cruel’ benefit sanctions

The Mirror.

New limits to the punishments were proposed in a damning report last year. But now DWP chiefs have rejected the plan – triggering a furious response.

Ministers have snubbed a series of recommendations designed to ease the burden of benefit sanctions on vulnerable claimants, it is revealed today.

A damning report from the Commons Work and Pensions Committee branded the system “pointlessly cruel” in November.

MPs warned the human cost of the sanctions regime was “simply too high” and called for new protections for single parents and people with disabilities and health conditions.

Committee chairman Frank Field today accuses ministers of “failing utterly to grasp the seriousness of the matter” after recommendations were rejected by Amber Rudd’s Department for Work and Pensions.

Under the current system, sanctions can be imposed for missing appointments or failure to show efforts to find work,.

Claimants face being stripped of up to 100% of their Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit standard allowance.

In some “higher level” cases – such as a failure to take up paid work – claimants can lose benefits for as long as three years.

The committee recommended that the maximum period for such sanctions should be limited to two months for the first failure to comply and four and six months for subsequent breaches.

But the DWP rejected the plan, along with recommendations to ensure lone parents with children aged under five are never subjected to the withdrawal of more than 20% of their welfare payments; limit sanctions on care-leavers below the age of 25 to 20% of their benefits; remove the threat of sanctions from claimants deemed to have “limited capability for work” and those with valid sickness notes from their doctors; and remove sanctions if a change in circumstances means the claimant is no longer subject to the requirement that led to benefits being withheld in the first place.

Universal Credit Creates “looming Eviction Crisis.

 

For many people Citizen’s Advice is the first port of call when they have problems with benefits, starting with Universal Credit.

Here is what’s happening with our Citizen’s Advice Service in Suffolk.

The East Anglian Daily Times reports:

On Thursday, February 14, the final vote on 2019/20 budget proposals will take place at Suffolk County Council’s full council meeting, where divisive cuts to the £368,000 Citizens Advice grant over two years has been put forward by the Conservative administration.

But the opposition Labour group, which has already called for a reversal of the cuts, has now tabled an amendment to ringfence £2,500 from each councillor’s locality budget – an £8,000 pot each councillor has to spend on projects and improvements in their ward – for Citizens Advice.

With 75 elected councillors, the proposal would secure £187,500 for Citizens Advice’s core funding.

It means that the £184,000 Citizens Advice is set to lose in 2019/20 is covered, while further ways to cover funding will be explored for 2020/21. Sarah Adams, Labour group leader, said the planned cuts were “a dangerous act of self-harm that will pile even more pressure on the council’s beleaguered public services”.

Here is the CAB’s latest statement on Universal Credit.

Call for universal credit overhaul amid fears of looming evictions crisis

Guardian.

Citizens Advice reveals half of claimants seeking benefits assistance risk being evicted

Citizens Advice has called for a root and branch overhaul of universal credit, after revealing that half of all claimants who came to it for help managing the new benefit were at risk of being evicted owing to rent arrears and hardship.

Relatively minor changes to the way the benefit operates, announced by ministers in the 2017 budget after coming under intense pressure from campaigners, have “only made a dent in the problem rather than fixed it”, the charity said.

The minimum five-week wait for a first benefit payment left nearly half of claimants it advised unable to pay household bills, or forced them to go without essentials such as food or heating, it said, while 54% had to borrow cash from family and friends to stay afloat.

“Half the people we help with universal credit are still struggling to keep a roof over their heads while they wait for their first payment,” said Gillian Guy, the chief executive of Citizens Advice.

Here is the CAB Press Release:

One in two people Citizens Advice helps with Universal Credit struggle to pay for housing as they wait for payment

People claiming Universal Credit are still struggling to pay for the roof over their heads, despite the wait for their first payment being reduced from 6 weeks to 5, new Citizens Advice data shows.

1 in 2 people the charity helped were in rent arrears or fell behind on their mortgage payments, the same number as when the wait for the first payment was longer.

Citizens Advice also found 60% of people it helped are taking out advances while they wait for payment.

The research also found that, following changes by Government in 2017, fewer people are falling behind on their bills or going without essentials during the wait period. Payment timeliness has improved – now 1 in 6 people are not paid in full and on time, while previously it was 1 in 4.

The report, Managing Money on Universal Credit, released today, reveals new analysis based on the 190,000 people Citizens Advice has helped with Universal Credit.

Among the people the charity helps with debt and Universal Credit:

• Debt problems are more common for the people we help with Universal Credit than those claiming benefits under the previous system, with 24% of the people we helped with Universal Credit also seeking debt advice.

• Nearly one in two (47%) have no money left after essential living costs (such as food, housing and transport) to pay creditors, or are spending more than they take in.

• More than 4 in 5 (82%) hold priority debt such as council tax, rent arrears or mortgage payments, and energy debts.

Citizens Advice is calling on the government to make Universal Credit far more flexible to fit around people’s lives and to make sure people have enough money to live on.

It also wants Alternative Payment Arrangements to be more widely available, allowing for rent to be paid direct to a landlord, more frequent payments, and a payment to go to both members of a couple.

Just 3% of claimants currently receive more frequent payments, while just 20 households in the UK receive split payments to different family members.

Four in 10 of the people helped by Citizens Advice are aware of managed payments to landlords, while just 1 in 6 know payments can be made more frequently.

Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

“Half the people we help with a Universal Credit claim are still struggling to keep a roof over their heads while they wait for their first payment.

“Changes to the waiting period for first payment have improved things for many people, but our evidence shows they don’t go far enough.

“Universal Credit must continue to be reformed so it works for all claimants and leaves people with enough money to live on.”

I watched this last night:

Tonight – Life on Benefits: Universal Credit? https://t.co/S94KEXxTsN via @itvhub

— Andrew Coates (@Pabloite) February 8, 2019

Life on Benefits: Universal Credit?

Brexit might be dominating the headlines – but arguably one of the biggest changes to the welfare state in a generation is the roll out of Universal Credit – which could affect over eight million people across the UK.

Tonight, Richard Bacon explores the impact of Universal Credit and meets some of those receiving the benefit.

CRITICISM

Universal Credit was announced in 2010 by Tory politician Ian Duncan Smith as a way to combine many benefits and incentivise people into work, but critics are furious that it’s bringing hardship to many families.

Everywhere you look there are issues with the system. It’s not working for the disabled, it’s not working for families, it’s not working for lone parents, it’s not working for those in jobs and it’s not working for the self employed.

– TESSA GREGORY, A SOLICITOR WITH LEIGH DAY

The Trussell Trust are a nationwide network of food banks and say the use of food banks have increased by 52% in areas where Universal Credit has been introduced.

Fair enough as it went, but it could have been an hour long instead of 30 minutes.

While Amber Rudd is Elsewhere Universal Credit Crisis Continues.

Public interest in Universal Credit has not dampened down.

Though  Amber Rudd has does not pay much attention.

Great launch of #GetHastingsReading with @Literacy_Trust – such an exciting 10 year programme in #Hastings pic.twitter.com/By16ocT5IQ

— Amber Rudd MP (@AmberRuddHR) January 26, 2019

A steady drip of really bad stories continues.

Universal Credit hell forces cleaner to work after heart attack and two strokes https://t.co/Hc9RFwhv6w

— Andrew Coates (@Pabloite) January 29, 2019

This site would like to hear from people on the issues around the  Universal Credit Job Search and the Journal.

We were told, or least got the impression,  that the transfer of millions of people already on benefits to UC  was being halted.

Or rather,

Ms Rudd will delay asking MPs to approve the transfer of three million benefit claimants to UC, and instead plans to move just 10,000 onto the system this summer as part of a trial to study its effectiveness.

Independent. 11th of January.

Other important changes include pressing ahead with a pilot to support 10,000 people from ‘legacy benefits’ on to Universal Credit in a test and learn approach.

There remains this:

What is natural migration

‘Migration’ is the word in common use for the process by which a claimant with a current award of a ‘legacy’ benefit (income-based job-seeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), income support(IS), housing benefit(HB), child tax credit (CTC) and working tax credit (WTC)) has that award (or those awards) terminated, instead being obliged to rely on UC for means-tested support. Under current plans, the DWP intends to start an official ‘managed migration’ process in 2019. This will see the DWP mandatorily terminating current legacy benefit awards and replacing that with a claim for UC. In this process, transitional protection will apply for those whose UC award is lower than their legacy benefit entitlement. The process is due to be complete by March 2022.

By contrast, ‘natural migration’ is the process by which a current claimant can end up, in effect, being obliged to claim UC instead of legacy benefits for means-tested support, completely outside of the managed migration process. No transitional protection will apply. Natural migration is possible at any time, including before 2019. It is more likely to occur in UC full service areas, but can occur in UC live service (or gateway) areas too.

This was announced last week, and, er, got buried under others news:

DWP not engaging with expert calls for change to Universal Credit

The Work and Pensions Committee is today launching a new inquiry into what the Government calls “natural migration”: the process by which people claiming existing benefits move onto Universal Credit if they have a change in their circumstances,

What is natural migration?

Universal Credit has now been rolled out to every Jobcentre in the country. This means that if people who are already claiming benefits under the old system have a change in their circumstances (for example, if they form part of a new couple, or separate from an existing partner), they can’t make a new claim for the old benefits. Instead, they have to make a whole new claim for Universal Credit.

The Government calls this “natural migration” to Universal Credit. People who transfer onto Universal Credit in this way aren’t eligible for any transitional protection payments and so may see a change in their income from benefits. For many people, this may be the first time that they discover that their income will change under Universal Credit.

Natural Migration inquiry launched

The Committee has heard concerns that:

• the Government hasn’t given clear and comprehensive information about the “triggers” for “natural migration”
• the absence of transitional protection means people might have to cope suddenly with a drop in income.

This is the latest stage in the Committee’s ongoing work on Universal Credit – which has already resulted in the Government making significant changes to the system

n its November report on so-called “managed migration” – the process of wholesale moving existing benefit claimants onto Universal Credit even if their circumstances haven’t changed  – the Committee called on the Government to publish an assessment of the impact of a sudden loss of income due to natural migration on different claimant groups, and then to look again at whether the triggers for natural migration are appropriate. In its official response to that report, published today alongside this new inquiry launch, the Government has refused to do that.

The Chair has written back to the Secretary of State with a series of questions about the Government’s response:

• Letter from Chair Frank Field to Amber Rudd regarding Universal Credit: managed migration Government response – dated 17 January 2019
• Secretary of State Amber Rudd responding to Frank Field regarding moving claimants onto Universal Credit – dated 14 January 2019

The Committee is disappointed and concerned by the Government’s failure to engage with its report and reasoning behind key recommendations, and intends to return to several of them including, now, the “triggers” for natural migration. The Department declined, again, to set tests that it will meet before managed migration begins. “Given that we, the NAO and SSAC all made this recommendation, this continued resistance is very disappointing.”

The Government’s response also does not address the central issue of who takes the risk in the transition to Universal Credit, with the Committee arguing repeatedly that it should be Government, making the huge reform, who assume the risk, not existing benefit claimants who include the most vulnerable people in our society. The Government says it’s simply impossible for it to move people over without requiring them to make a new claim, but “did not offer—and has not offered during our inquiry—any evidence” why.

DWP also appears strangely reluctant to acknowledge the key recommendation it did accept. The Committee had said DWP should not ask MPs to vote on new UC rules until it had listened to expert views on them. And that is what happened: rather than a vote before Christmas as the Government had originally planned, revised rules were published last week. The Chair was therefore very “surprised to read that the Government ‘does not accept this recommendation’, given that by the time the response arrived the Government had not only accepted the recommendation but also implemented it.”

Universal Credit, it’s Official, “all types of claimants” “benefit from the improved, personalised, one-to-one support that Universal Credit offers.”

DWP MInisters Discuss Universal Credit.

The Conservative Party is having a nervous breakdown.

But, when they’re not having lunch at the Drones’ Club to get away from it all, they are sticking to Bertie Wooster’s policy of stout denial.

On the 21st of November this was said,

Amber Rudd insisted Universal Credit was a ‘force for good’ today and insisted tweaks would ensure it gets ‘cash into people’s hands’ more quickly.

Today the Mirror reports,

Universal Credit leaves applicants “scavenging in bins at night for food”

A tortuous process to sign up, an interminable wait without money after it and vulnerable applicants sidelined – new report highlights the human fallout of the new payment system being inflicted on the country.

Now a report from debt charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has revealed the shocking human cost of the key failures of the system, as people fall through the gaps.

“Some of the UK’s most vulnerable families are sinking in bureaucracy and we owe it to them to give them a voice and press for change,” CAP chief executive Matt Barlow said.

The charity, which helps people struggling to get by, found three key areas that urgently need addressing – as well as revealing some of the heartbreaking stories of the people who’ve been hurt by the mass-adoption of the new benefit.

CAP’s three biggest areas of concern are the online application, the wait for the first payment and the lack of understanding of how many people are truly vulnerable.

This is important, raising an issue many here have mentioned,

There is no paper form to apply to claim Universal Credit, you do it online. Worse, you can’t save the form half way through the process.

And that’s causing big problems for some people.

Those without internet access can be forced to travel to a library to use computers there. But this is typically only free for an hour a day.

You need details of past addresses and identification when filling it out, meaning if you’ve travelled to get to a computer, and have forgotten something, you need to go back only to return later and start the whole process again.

“This can lead to a real feeling of hopelessness and for someone very vulnerable be the difference between being helped by the welfare system and not,” CAP said.

This, now called ‘digital exclusion’ is a growing problem.

More on this report:

With one million people already claiming Universal Credit and another seven million still to transition, now is a key time to check in with these early claimants.

This series of papers explores the problems and hardship experienced by claimants and highlights areas where policymakers’ attention is needed.

The roll-out is a huge task and there have been changes made to improve the transition for many people (see CAP’s policy note here, but there is more to do. Download the papers below to read about the impact that claiming Universal Credit has had on people

Applying and waiting for Universal Credit

(December 2018)Download now

• Digital exclusion is a significant challenge, with access as well as capability a key issue.
• Waiting for payments to start causes financial hardship and emotional distress.
• There is considerable vulnerability amongst early Universal Credit claimants

Is the government listening?

Like hell – pardon padre – they are.

The Tory Government’s responses to us over Universal Credit are scarcely believable

Liverpool Echo.

When we asked about the fears and concerns of residents in the deprived areas of West Derby and Everton – where UC is rolling out this month – Work and Pensions Minister Alok Sharma painted a very rosy picture, stating: “Universal Credit is central to our commitment to help families improve their lives by moving into work.

“We know it’s working – with Universal Credit people are moving into work faster and staying in work longer than under the old system.

“And now we are rolling it out to a wider range of people in a safe and controlled way.

“In Everton and West Derby single jobseekers are already receiving support from their dedicated work coach to find employment or increase their hours and earnings.

“Now, all types of claimants will be able to benefit from the improved, personalised, one-to-one support that Universal Credit offers.”

The Echo, to their credit had done some serious digging into the dirt.

The problems with UC have been well documented and include delays in handing over vital cash, sanctions for simple mistakes and there simply not being enough money in the system.

We have told you about the man forced to eat out of supermarket bins because the jobcentre messed up his appointment.

Then there was the Bootle mum who suffers with agoraphobia – and doesn’t want to wake up most mornings because she can’t afford to feed her kids.

The problems with UC have been well documented and include delays in handing over vital cash, sanctions for simple mistakes and there simply not being enough money in the system.

We have told you about the man forced to eat out of supermarket bins because the jobcentre messed up his appointment.

Then there was the Bootle mum who suffers with agoraphobia – and doesn’t want to wake up most mornings because she can’t afford to feed her kids.

Their comment, in these conditions, is pretty mild,

“To be told that Universal Credit is a ‘force for good’ must feel like a horrible joke to many people in this part of the world.”

Christmas is Coming and….. Universal Credit leads Revival of Christmas Day in the Workhouse.

Coming near you!

Local newspapers and on-line local sites have come into their own over the Universal Credit scandal.

Here are some stories today:

Universal Credit is threatening to break this city – THIS is how Liverpool is fighting back

Liverpool Echo.

Scousers from all walks of life coming out to support those affected by problem-hit benefit system.

Vulnerable families across Liverpool are bracing themselves for the full impact of Universal Credit – a benefit reform that is already pushing people into poverty.

This week, Job Centres in the deprived areas of Everton and West Derby switched claimants over to the troubled system, despite voices from all over imploring the government to halt the roll-out after the many problems that have been reported.

In Liverpool, the country’s 2nd most destitute city, people are taking things into their own hands to help out the most vulnerable neighbours -they know that to sit, wait and hope for a change of heart from this government would be living in fantasy land.

Manchester Evening News.

Universal Credit roll out means people applying for benefits in Stockport could face Christmas with no cash

It takes five weeks to apply for the benefit.

WalesOnline.

The existence of food banks is a national disgrace

Let’s be quite clear about the increase in foodbank usage: it’s do with government welfare policy and the implementation of Universal Credit.

 

While Brexit takes up all the questions on #bbcqt our welfare system has quickly fallen into 'Universal Discredit'. These subjects are hardly ever discussed on the programme despite austerity and welfare reforms being major reasons why we ended up voting to leave the EU. pic.twitter.com/vM0R7pgqQP

— I was a JSA claimant (@imajsaclaimant) December 6, 2018

And there is this, from the out-of-work’s essential daily read, the ‘I’.

Life on Universal Credit at Christmas: I have to save sugar packets from cafes to put in my daughter’s stocking

A mother explains how she is trying to make Christmas special for her disabled daughter despite having to sell her belongings

This is the song to sing at every food bank:

It is Christmas Day in the workhouse,
And the cold, bare walls are bright
With garlands of green and holly,
And the place is a pleasant sight;
For with clean-washed hands and faces,
In a long and hungry line
The paupers sit at the table,
For this is the hour they dine.

And the guardians and their ladies,
Although the wind is east,
Have come in their furs and wrappers,
To watch their charges feast;
To smile and be condescending,
Put pudding on pauper plates.
To be hosts at the workhouse banquet
They’ve paid for — with the rates.