Universal credit: Frank Field MP wants to hear your experiences

UKParliament

Frank Field, MP for Birkenhead and Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, is leading a Westminster Hall debate on universal credit and the use of food banks on Wednesday 11 July. He wants to hear your views and experiences.

He would like to know:

What has been your experience of claiming universal credit?

What have been the best and worst features of universal credit?

How simple and manageable has it been to set up and manage your universal credit claim?

Do you feel as though universal credit has made you better or worse off?

Your responses will help to inform his speech. Any information or opinions you provide may be used in a Parliamentary debate, which will be on the record and available on Parliament TV and Hansard. Please let us know if you do not want your username to be referred in either the briefing shared with Frank or in his speech.

Please comment below with your experiences by 4pm on Tuesday 10 July.

fredandwilma

I cannot believe you are asking, but i'll take the bait.

Use of food banks? You don't live in the real world, do you?

Sit in Westminster Hall with a 'free' lunch provided?

You have no idea how Universal Credit affects a real and vulnerable sector of soceity.

I am about to 'naturally' migrate to UC.

Why am i putting myself through this? Ironically, for health reasons.

At the moment we have found a possible 'loophole' to avoid claiming UC and staying on 'Legacy' Benefits. This is yet to be explored.

What have been the best and worst features of UC?

There are no best features. It's bad news all the way. UC is a 'household' benefit designed to 'encourage' people back in to or to stay in work, not a 'personal' benefit. What about the severely disabled who will never return to the workplace? Who need support with everyday living? The disability premiums received with ESA gave those people the financial support and 'independence' they require to 'survive'. There is no consideration or support for the 'severely' disabled claiming UC.

Do you feel as though UC has made you better or worse off?

I will definitely be worse off, somewhere in the region of £200 a month. It's hard to tell at the present moment. This financial assistance helps with the extra cost of being 'severely disabled'. I hate the word 'disabled', but one has to use a word? I hate the phrase 'severley disabled' but this is the terminology used. I have learnt to live life as it is now, within it's limitations, minute by minute. Any future plans which are made, may or may not happen.

Feel free to join me on my UC journey. It's free.

Also feel free to join me in a cardboard box on the street when my source of income comes to an end, (very soon).

I already have a casework number with my MP and gradually, support from other organisations as they are concerned for my welfare whilst i wait for a first UC payment?

However, that sort of support doesn't pay the basics required to exist on a daily basis, let alone the cost of being 'severely' disabled.

Nor does any 'back payment' which may or may not arrive, at some point in the future.

If you were in my position, how would you be feeling?

You couldn't possibly know, but the stress is unimaginable.........................

The government has promised no-one will be worse off when moved onto Universal Credit.

The government has already broken it's promise with arguably, the most vulnerable sector of soceity.

What was the point of this whole exercise if not to cut spending, which clearly, is being achieved?

[Deleted User]

UC has been and will continue to be an unmitigated disaster.
It has seen a massive rise in the use of foodbanks and will continue to see this.
It penalises the sick and disabled.
It does not encourage people into work, it bullies them into zero hour contracts.
It has so far cost far more to implement than it has saved.
The secretary of state for the DWP(I can't bring myself to type her name) has lied to parliament this week, and has only offered a half hearted apology which in itself contained half truths. She should resign.
The legacy benefits weren't perfect BUT they were better than this shambles.

UKParliament

At 10.30am today, Frank Field MP will ask an urgent question in the House of Commons on Universal Credit.

If an MP thinks there is an urgent matter that the government need to be questioned on, they can apply to the Speaker for an urgent question. If the Speaker agrees, a government minister must come to the House of Commons that day to explain what the government is doing on the issue raised. The minister will then usually take questions on the subject from MPs.

You can watch the Urgent Question on Parliament TV from 10.30am.

fredandwilma

It's a comedy of apologies and accusations.

And brainwashing.

The government is going to make my life better by getting me back in to work and I will be £600 a year better off.

The government is going to make my life better by getting me back in to work and I will be £600 a year better off.

The government is going to make my life better by getting me back in to work and I will be £600 a year better off.....................

There's no place like home

There's no place like home

There's no place like home

There's no help for me, whatever will be will be

[Deleted User]

Considering all the problems we have seen posted on here about UC the response to this is totally underwhelming.

fredandwilma

To reiterate, I know my own MP is 'putting pressure on the government' but with no clear answers forthcoming, I would like to highlight the points to be raised on Wednesday the 11th July:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/universal-credit-disabled-people-high-court-government-disabled-dwp-a8398241.html

https://www.leighday.co.uk/News/News-2018/June-2018/First-legal-challenge-against-Universal-Credit-fin

The government's universal credit roll-out is unlawfully discriminating against people with disabilities by taking “essential benefits” from disabled claimants, the High Court has ruled.

In a landmark judgment, the court ruled that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) unlawfully discriminated against two severely disabled men who both saw their benefits dramatically reduced when they claimed universal credit.

Lawyers representing the men said the ruling showed that the new benefit system was “not working” for the disabled or other claimants, and urged the government to halt the roll-out and overhaul the system to meet peoples’ needs and not “condemn them to destitution”.

The DWP last week committed the government to ensuring that no severely disabled person in receipt of the SDP will be made to move onto universal credit until transitional protection is in place and committing to compensating those like the claimants who have lost out.

The two claimants, known only as TP and AR, had both previously been in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) and Enhanced Disability Premium (EDP), which were specifically aimed at meeting the additional care needs of severely disabled people living alone with no carer.

But they were required to make a claim for universal credit when they moved into new local authorities where the controversial new benefit was being rolled out. According to both the men, they were advised by DWP staff that their benefit entitlement would not change.

Despite repeated assurances from the government that “no one will experience a reduction in the benefit they are receiving at the point of migration to universal credit where circumstances remain the same”, both men saw an immediate drop in their income of around £178 a month when they were moved over.

When they asked for top up payments they were told that Government policy was that no such payments would be paid until July 2019 when managed migration would begin.

The DWP last week committed the government to ensuring that no severely disabled person in receipt of the SDP will be made to move onto universal credit until transitional protection is in place and committing to compensating those like the claimants who have lost out.

Despite this, following hand down of the judgment on Thursday, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has sought permission to appeal, maintaining that there was nothing unlawful with the way the claimants were treated.


Their lawyer, Tessa Gregory from the human rights team at Leigh Day, told the Court: “Nothing about either of the claimants’ disability or care needs changed, they were simply unfortunate enough to need to move local authorities into a Universal Credit full service area.”

The judge said the impact on the individuals was “clear”, and said the way they were transferred onto universal credit was “manifestly without reasonable foundation” and “failed to strike a fair balance”.

Following the ruling, Ms Gregory said: “This is the first legal test of the roll out of Universal Credit and the system has been found to be unlawfully discriminating against some of society’s most vulnerable.

“Whilst we welcome the Government’s commitment to ensuring that no one in our client’s position will now be moved onto Universal Credit until top up payments are in place, it comes too late as it cannot make up for the months of suffering and grinding poverty our clients and many others like them have already had to endure.

Responding to the ruling, James Taylor, head of policy and public affairs at disability charity Scope, said: “The judge’s comments spell out what many disabled people tell us week in and week out – that the move to universal credit can have a detrimental effect on their lives.

“Disability premiums are not a luxury. They play a crucial role in helping disabled people pay for essentials like food, clothing and bills. The needs of the people involved in this case haven’t changed, and yet they have lost more than £170 per month in support. This isn’t fair.

"Until the Government fully addresses these issues, it will unfairly penalise disabled people for moving over to universal credit.”

"Last week, the Secretary of State announced that we will be providing greater support for severely disabled people as they move onto universal credit. And we have gone even further, by providing an additional payment to those who have already moved onto the benefit.”

As the DWP last week committed the government to ensuring that no severely disabled person in receipt of the SDP will be made to move onto universal credit until transitional protection is in place, what will happen to the 'Severely Disabled' transfering to Universal Credit in the here and now? Are they still having to transfer on to Universal Credit?

Any transitional protection put in place will eventually be eroded away as essentially, the SDP and EDP payments which were available with Legacy Benefits, are eroded away over the course of time and cease to exist.

We are talking about a very small minority of benefits claimants and the most 'vulnerable' in soceity, here.

The Governments statement that no one will be worse off claiming Universal Credit, clearly doesn't apply.

What 'safety net' is in place for 'Severely Disabled' claimants about to 'Naturally Migrate' to Universal Credit, in the here and now?........................

fatbelly

venison wrote: »

The legacy benefits weren't perfect BUT they were better than this shambles.

All they lacked was a 'taper' for those with small earnings, instead of losing £1 for £1 after a £5 - £20 earnings exemption.

That could have been brought in with a tweak to the existing system, at minimal cost, instead of the foreseeable national disaster that is UC

Feyfangirl

Currently signed off work with depression and anxiety for two months, really stressed out. On universal credit, my first payment is in the first week of August. I am desperate to try get a job before then, as simply cannot afford to not bring any income in as my family need the money.



How I am supposed to "get better" and get ready for work with all the pressures that universal credit brings is truly beyond me

huckster

Feyfangirl wrote: »

Currently signed off work with depression and anxiety for two months, really stressed out. On universal credit, my first payment is in the first week of August. I am desperate to try get a job before then, as simply cannot afford to not bring any income in as my family need the money.

How I am supposed to "get better" and get ready for work with all the pressures that universal credit brings is truly beyond me

So have you applied for a new claim advance, so you have money while you wait for the first UC payment ?

What extra pressures does UC apply to you, compared to legacy benefits or any work issues with your employers ?

If you are signed off work, what help are your employers providing ?

fredandwilma

Will the law be passed, ensuring that no severely disabled person in receipt of the SDP will be made to move onto universal credit until transitional protection is in place, (those naturally migrating,) before the House of Commons breaks for their summer holidays on 24th July?