UC, Inside the Welfare State BBC 2 21:00 hrs 04/02/2020

45002

Wasn't sure where to post this or if its already been posted somewhere else .

Read on

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f1xj/episodes/guide




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Part One Tonight....

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Bump.

Part Two Tonight ...

[Deleted User]

I watched some of part one and thought it a little one sided, they got a 61 year who hadn't worked for teb years a full time job? really? They interviewed Amber Rudd as the secetary of state so it was obviously not filmed this year.

calcotti

venison said:

I watched some of part one and thought it a little one sided, they got a 61 year who hadn't worked for teb years a full time job? really? They interviewed Amber Rudd as the secetary of state so it was obviously not filmed this year.

What did come across was how DWP staff are now having to deal with much wider issues including housing in a way that they would not have done in the past. It was interesting to see Amber Rudd acknowledge that the rate of turnover in Secretary of State post was ridiculous - but of course she was gone not long after!

Dineen33

venison said:

I watched some of part one and thought it a little one sided, they got a 61 year who hadn't worked for ten years a full time job? really?

This years benefit !!!!!! offering seems to be taking the "other" side. Sympathetic view of claimants and DWP staff. They do like balance these programmers.

coachman12

It seemed to me to be the epitome of a  "sanitised" documentary, filmed with the co-operation of DWP ( as headed then by the best Sec of State for that Dept in recent times ). I think Amber Rudd really did want to improve the awful reputation of DWP ( and, indeed, the working of the Dept itself). So a documentary like this is bound to be biased towards the poor over-worked caring staff in DWP.
A " fly-on-the -wall " documentary , those with hidden cameras and microphones , tend to be far more interesting as, by definition, they show the REAL truth. 
I do feel sorry for many DWP staff, who for years, especially since 2010, have had numbers cut and workload trebled-----and they have to carry out unsavoury political decisions including hammering the weak and vulnerable and having to co-operate with shoddy companies such as Atos Healthcare and other such agencies whose whole ethos is to earn bonuses by taking as much money as possible from those in society who need it most of all.
An interesting documentary so far but I prefer the sort of documentary which does not rely on the co-operation of the organisation they are scrutinising.

45002

Bump...

Part Three Tonight ...

Parts 1 & 2 here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000f1xj/universal-credit-inside-the-welfare-state

coachman12

45002 said:

Bump...

Part Three Tonight ...

Parts 1 & 2 here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000f1xj/universal-credit-inside-the-welfare-state

Thanks. I've now seen all the series. And I can only reiterate my posting dated 13 Feb. It was an interesting documentary but with a strong sense of stage management sanitisation rather than a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
From a different perspective, isn't it so very sad that there is such suffering, disablement and illness  (including those actually caused or made worse by Govt regulations that are supposedly there to help some of the most vulnerable in the 6th richest country in the
world ? ). I believe that DWP measures in recent years have been successful in getting rid of benefit scroungers ( they are probably an extinct species now) , and we'd all be satisfied with that, but the Govt have now gone so much further than necessary that it has become cruel ( and cruel to most hard-working DWP frontline staff as well as to the very sick, the disabled, the blind and those with no quality of life ).

TELLIT01

I caught a few minutes of last night's episode.  I was open mouthed at the woman, presumably from DWP, who flatly denied there was any correlation between the introduction of UC and the increase in debt by benefit claimants.

minimad1970

TELLIT01 said:

I caught a few minutes of last night's episode.  I was open mouthed at the woman, presumably from DWP, who flatly denied there was any correlation between the introduction of UC and the increase in debt by benefit claimants.

Therese Coffey came across as unlikable and completely lacking in knowledge of the situation . I thought the lady on the panel questioning her would do a much better job.