Wed 26 Feb 2020, 05:02 AM | Posted by editor
LETTER from Mark Langabeer, Newton Abbot Labour Party
The final episode of the BBC documentary series on Universal Credit visited Bolton. The programme reported that unemployment among 18 to 24 year-olds is 7%, well above the national average of 4%. It followed a claimant by the name of Jenny, who was an apprentice hairdresser.
Following a sexual assault, she stopped work for 10 months and was seeking employment. An advisor, described as a ‘work coach’ suggested applying for a job in the hospitality sector. A new diner had opened up in town and she got the job. However, as she was only 20, so the minimum wage was only £6.30 an hour with a zero-hour contract. The only way she could pay her bills would be to work 40 hours or more. There were weeks when she would only get 6 hours work so she claimed Universal Credit.
However, the waiting time for benefit is over 4 weeks and many claimants need an advance to make ends meet. The advance is debt that’s required to be paid off within a 12 month period. One couple had a debt of £1700 to pay off. These so-called advances often cause hardship in the following monthly payments and have been widely criticized. If the benefit was paid weekly, then the need for advances would be significantly reduced.
The Child Poverty Action Group, a well-respected campaigning body, has urged the Government to raise the level of benefit and pause the roll out of Universal Credit. The man in charge of Universal Credit, Neil Couling, argued that the amount of payment was something that only Ministers could decide on. However, he then went on to explain that this cost could only be met by either tax rises, extra borrowing or cuts in other areas. In reply to the CPAG, he made an analogy with a rocket that can’t just stop after being launched. Couling thinks that Universal Credit is the best thing since sliced bread!
Couling, in response to detractors of UC, explained that the welfare bill has risen from £60bn to £62bn. The documentary recorded a board meeting where the completion date had been extended by a further 9 months. For existing claimants, only those that had a change in circumstances, would be required to transfer onto UC. The number has not been as many as anticipated. This will add a further £500 million to the welfare bill. It doesn’t amount to a pause, but given that the original roll out was the end of 2017, it represents a huge delay in its implementation. By my reckoning , claimants could have had over 4% increase in benefit, had UC not been introduced in the first place.
The Tories, who claim to be the party of sound finance, have ended up costing the taxpayers more than if they had left the welfare system as it was. Their policies are really motivated by their belief that people on benefits are ‘feckless’ and so they were going to make ‘work pay’. For them there is also a short-term political gain…it’s called divide and rule, an attempt to blame benefit claimants for the problems in Britain. What Britain really needs is a Labour Government that takes power and ownership out of the hands of a tiny elite and into the hands of all our citizens.
