Re: Universal Credit Rollout / Reports Of Increasing Poverty
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2017 4:18 pm
Letter copied across from the Guardian web site which , again , sums up the chilling effect of UC , when repacing the zoo of current benefits :
The old phrase ... crying wolf ... in this instance , perhaps not " Crying " enough ?
Time will tell ... when is the UC steamroller due on your manor ???
There are more fundamental problems with Universal Credit than the 6-week initial wait for payment.
There's the fact that it has been used as a vehicle to reduce the amount of money paid to disabled people, with the Severe Disability Premium scrapped completely (an extra payment available under legacy benefits for people receiving disability benefits such as PIP or DLA).
They have scrapped the LImited Capability for Work element completely, despite oppostion at the time.
There are long delays in people being offered a Work Capability Assessment to test whether they have limited capability for work in the first place, and many people are required to undertake 35 hours work search a week regardless of their health condition.
The rates paid with UC are part of the benefit freeze, whereby there is no annual uprating until at least 2020, which means people who need to claim UC are seeing their income fall in relative and real terms. In particular, the housing element no longer bears any resemblance to the actual cost of local housing.
Despite what government and DWP say, there is virtually no support for people around budgeting and how can you budget when you simply don't have enough money to live on in the first place?
The two-child limit applies to UC, so you don't get paid anything extra if you have more than 2 kids.
The bedroom tax still applies to UC, so your payment is reduced if they think you have one or more spare bedrooms.
The overall benefit cap still applies and this was lowered again last year.
The old phrase ... crying wolf ... in this instance , perhaps not " Crying " enough ?
Time will tell ... when is the UC steamroller due on your manor ???