"12 of the region’s Tory MPs have majorities smaller than the number of Credit claimants. Peterborough MP Paul Bristow has a majority of only 2,580, but 18,360 voters on Universal Credit."
The government’s planned cuts to Universal Credit will hit one family in five in East Anglia. Will the region’s Conservative MPs dare to back the Chancellor’s plan?
What about East Anglia?
In East Anglia 320,000 families receive Universal Credit, more than half of them with children. Forty percent of these claimants are in work, but not earning enough to meet the minimum needs for basic living. In every constituency more than 10% of families are on Universal Credit, and that percentage rises to over 25% in five of them (see table below). So the blow is going to be felt right across the region.
Will our region’s Conservative MP’s back the cut?
Thirty nine of the region’s 41 MPs are Conservatives, and the Party has traditionally been opposed to generous welfare benefits of any kind. However twelve of the region’s Conservative MPs have majorities smaller than the number of Credit claimants. At the extreme, in Peterborough Paul Bristow MP has a majority of only 2,580, but 18,360 voters on Universal Credit.
So the Universal Credit cut is a real threat to at least ten of the region’s MPs, especially in Peterborough, Ipswich and Norwich North, where the Conservatives hold the seat with narrow majorities.
Note, one would hope so, but people in working class Peterborough have already voted for those opposed to their own interests.
In Waveney, Peter Aldous has already written to the Prime Minister calling for the cut to be cancelled. It will be interesting to see how large a rebellion there will be on the government benches when the issue comes to Parliament. Will our MPs be prepared to inflict cuts on such a large proportion of their own constituents, or will they swallow their traditional principles, and vote to block this cut?
Note, it is to be very much doubted that (many?) others will follow, though some might. The hard right Ipswich Tory MP Tom Hunt is more obsessed with fighting ‘cultural Marxism’ than standing up for constituents on Universal Credit.
One can hardly avoid mentioning that the MP for Suffolk Coastal, which adjoins Ipswich is this figure is the DWP Minister carrying out the brutal cuts…
Citizens Advice has found itself helping many more younger people during the pandemic, with Mrs Harrison saying the “jobs they were in are no longer there”.
She has argued that a “delay would be ideal – especially to try to get over the winter period”.
Waveney (Note, this includes Lowestoft which has a large working class and some very poor areas) MP Peter Aldous is one of those calling for the £20 a week uplift to be made permanent.
Today, local press is doing its job.
'Forced to live off £8.30 a day' – man's fear at impending benefit cut https://t.co/GkpJyY3Ph3
The princely sum of £8.30 might buy you a cinema ticket, a meal for one at a restaurant or a couple of ready meals from the supermarket.
But one Universal Credit claimant from Suffolk is facing up to the harsh reality of a life where that will be his daily budget – as he braces himself for a £20 a week cut to his benefits.
The claimant, a young autistic adult with chronic fatigue syndrome, was an electrician before the pandemic and lost his job in a kitchen as the Covid crisis started.
Since then, the man – who has asked us not to use his name – said he has been “struggling on the benefit system”.
This is a familiar story to our readers,
He says this is “barely enough as it is” – but with the government set to remove the uplift on October 6, the claimant is now asking: “How do they expect everyone to survive?”
“I can barely afford the things I need with the £20 uplift.
The details makes it worse.
When it gets reduced, people will be forced to live off of £8.30 a day, roughly. This is disgusting and cannot be allowed to happen.”
The claimant also argues the the DWP’s removal of the uplift contradicts letters he has had from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which warn of the continuing dangers of Covid-19.
“How on one side can the DWP cut off financial support to the most vulnerable people in our society, with the excuse of ‘this was only a temporary increase because of the coronavirus pandemic’, and then on the same day the DHSC can send me a letter saying that Covid-19 remains a threat?.
“So the DWP is saying we don’t need to provide you extra financial support, but the DHSC is saying that the virus remains a threat? It is so ignorantly stupid and a contradiction.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is very much still happening. Those who are vulnerable and disabled in our society still do not feel safe to return to normal.
“The DWP cannot be allowed to get away with this.”
Hats off to the Ipswich Star and the East Anglian Daily Times for the report.
This story can be reproduced across the country, and it is not hard to imagine our contributors having worse experiences of living on existing benefits. Not hard because many have written about it.
There are of course those on Legacy Benefits who never got the uplift.
Ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have called on the UK Government to scrap plans to axe the £20 increase to Universal Credit and instead make the higher rate of payment permanent.https://t.co/hhWapLKc0s
Ministers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have called on the UK Government to scrap plans to axe the £20 increase to Universal Credit and instead make the higher rate of payment permanent.
In a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, they branded the change, which is due to come into effect in September, as the “biggest overnight reduction to a basic rate of social security since the modern welfare state began, more than 70 years ago.”
Ministers from Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont raised concerns about the impact the reduction would have on poverty.
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:
Today we and 100 organisations hand in our petition to @RishiSunak. We’re asking him to do the right thing at next week’s Spending Review: #IncreaseLegacyBenefits by the same £20pw as Universal Credit.
Rudd said she was going to specifically examine the impact of Universal Credit on women and single mums, amid concerns the scheme was making hundreds of thousands of single parents worse off – admitting that despite being a “force for good”, it currently has “real problems”.
Ian Reynolds, 51, had Universal Credit payments cut after official letters sent to wrong address.
An unemployed dad has been forced to turn to foodbanks after his Universal Credit was stopped because he failed to respond to letters sent to the wrong address – five doors away.
Ian Reynolds, 51, now cannot afford to heat his home in Stafford after his payments were sanctioned without warning because he did not respond to the messages concerning Jobcentre appointments.
The Department for Work and Pension (DWP) made the benefit cut decision in September.
Since then Ian has been living on monthly ‘hardship payments’ of £187 and receiving support from the House of Bread charity.
The controversial Universal Credit benefit system is being rolled out across Edinburgh.
Foodbanks say they are preparing for increased demand, as those being moved to the new system can expect a five weeks wait for their first payment.
An estimated 10,500 local council tenants are expected to be moved to Universal Credit by 2023.
The Scottish Conservatives say the new system is widely supported and funds are in place to aid the roll-out.
But the Trussel Trust say they expect this December to be the busiest since foodbank records began.
Bethany Biggar, operations manager at the Edinburgh Food Project, told the BBC Scotland news website that her foodbank, like many support agencies are preparing to deal with an increase in usage.
She said: “Christmas is already a very difficult time of year for most families who are living in poverty, so it’s a double barrelled difficulty.
“In areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out already, the Trussel Trust has seen an overall increase in demand.
The roll-out of the ‘full service’ of the controversial welfare system – which has been condemned by critics as inefficient, punitive and likely to drive those reliant upon it further into debt and poverty – was greeted at Edinburgh’s Leith Jobcentre by anti-UC protestors, including representatives of the Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty (ECAP), Sisters Uncut and Oficina Precaria.
“We declare we will take direct action against any employer involved in Universal Credit workfare. We declare we will take direct action to defend people sanctioned under Universal Credit. We declare we will take direct action in solidarity with all under attack.” ECAP Declaration of Resistance to Universal Credit
Following today’s protest, which took place despite Storm Diana hitting Edinburgh with severe wind and rain, a spokesperson for ECAP told CommonSpace: “We are encouraged that people came out today in the rain to oppose Universal Credit.
“Universal Credit increases poverty, homelessness and misery. It massively increases the scope and length of sanctions. It attacks the disabled, young people, women, workers, migrants. Research shows the majority of claimants will be worse off.
“The fact that new claimants have to wait many weeks for their first payment causes huge hardship and plunges many into rent arrears, from which many never recover, losing their homes. It’s all part of the Government’s austerity attack, designed to undermine everyone’s wages and conditions and force people to accept low-paid, insecure jobs.”
“Demonstrators today proclaimed a Declaration of Resistance to Universal Credit, multiple copies of which were fixed to the Leith Jobcentre wall. This read: ‘We declare we will take direct action against any employer involved in Universal Credit workfare. We declare we will take direct action to defend people sanctioned under Universal Credit. We declare we will take direct action in solidarity with all under attack.’
This Christmas will be cancelled for thousands of families claiming the new benefit Universal Credit. Despite knowing Universal Credit causes serious problems for claimants, Theresa May’s Tory government is pressing ahead and rolling it out to thousands of people who will have to wait weeks to receive any money. Claimants are descending into debt, relying on food banks, getting into rent arrears and in many cases getting evicted from their homes because of in- built problems with Universal Credit.
Take action NOW against Universal Credit
On Saturday 1 December 2018 Unite Community will be staging a national day of action to #StopUniversalCredit to send a message to the Tory government that it can’t be fixed. Join Unite in your area and back the call to #StopUniversalCredit. Check out the events where you are:
Events across the country.
London & Eastern.
Norwich City Centre stall/protest outside Tesco (NR2 1JH) from 11:00-13:00 close to the Job Centre
Ipswich – Alternate Carol Service on between 13:00-15:00 at The La Tour Cafe at 7, Waterfront, Ipswich (IP4 1FT)
Colchester- Carol Singing at 16:00 outside the Town Hall to raise Universal Credit awareness, songbooks provided
Woolwich Stall in Woolwich Town Centr DLR Station in Powis St/Woolwich Market (SE18 6AY) from 11:00
Brixton tube station from 11:00-13:00
Ladbroke Grove – Underground Station, London (W10 6HJ) Carol singing – 14:00
Chingford Chingford Mount, London (E4 8LG). 11:00 at Protesting in constituency of Iain Duncan Smith, the architect of Universal Credit misery.
Camden Town – outside the tube station at 11:00
Wisbech outside the local Job Centre Plus, Wisbech, (PE13 1AN) Friday 7 December 2018
Tottenham Job Centre, Carol Singing, Friday 7 December 2018
More information and details of events across the country here:
The number of people forced into homelessness is expected to more than double to half a million by 2041 unless the government takes immediate action, a homelessness charity has warned.
Analysis by Heriot-Watt University for Crisis has found that the number of homeless people in Britain will reach 575,000, up from 236,000 in 2016. The number of people sleeping rough will more than quadruple from 9,100 in 2016 to 40,100 over the same period, the research found.
The forecast, released to mark the 50th anniversary of Crisis, comes as the number of homeless households has jumped by a third in the past five years. The majority of those affected are “sofa surfers”, with 68,300 people sleeping on other people’s couches.
Crisis has urged the government to build more affordable housing and launch a concerted effort to tackle rough sleeping.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said: “With the right support at the right time, it doesn’t need to be inevitable … Together we can find the answers and make sure those in power listen to them.”
Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, said that homelessness had become the bulk of her workload. “The government needs to wake up … The system is broken. Without more social housing, a flood of good temporary accommodation and investment in homelessness support the problem will get worse.”
This will help increase the numbers of homeless as well:
The government will be transferring existing claimants onto the new loan system from 5 April 2018.
There will be a transition period where some people can continue claiming SMI as a free benefit for a while.
But this is simply to stop people falling through the cracks if there are “delays” to moving them onto the new scheme.
Outsourcing giant Serco is taking responsibility for telling people about the new system in the coming months through letters and a phone call.
….
A spokesman for welfare rights charity Turn2us added: “Support for Mortgage Interest has been an important source of help for those with a mortgage who have had an income shock.
“It has helped many stay in their homes.
“The increase in the waiting period to 39 weeks has already affected that.
“Now, turning Support for Mortgage Interest from a benefit into a loan adds to the pressure on homeowners who are already struggling.”
Can I take the time to flag up this article by one of the best activists in Britain, Pilgrim Tucker.
The first sentence is relevant to the above, “Outsourcing giant Serco”
Residents at Grenfell Tower describe how, as the local council outsourced contracts to private companies to work on their estate, essential elements of local democracy became unavailable to them. Their voices weren’t heard, information they requested wasn’t granted, outcomes they were promised did not transpire, complaints they made were not answered. The outcome at Grenfell was unique in its scale but the background is a common enough story. Wherever regeneration of social housing has been outsourced to private developers, responsiveness, transparency, oversight and scrutiny – key elements of healthy democracy – are lessened for those most directly affected.
Outsourcing of public services began in the 1980s, a central feature of the drive to roll back what neoliberalism casts as a bureaucratic, inefficient state. Its proponents claimed the involvement of private providers would increase cost-savings and efficiency, and improve responsiveness to the “consumers” of public services. Thirty years later, the value of these contracts is enormous – more than £120bn worth of government business was awarded to private companies between 2011 and 2016, and their number is increasing rapidly. At least 30% of all public outsourcing contracts are with local authorities.
In Ipswich the Labour Borough Council does not outsource. – sadly this is not the case for many Labour authorities.
Cuts mean it’s hard to deal with problems like homelessness.
But the gang of Tories from the backwoods and chocolate box villages who run Suffolk County Council have hived off everything they possibly can and helped make things that but worse.
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Ipswich Unemployed Action. 
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