Housing chair insists ‘cruel’ Universal Credit needs urgent reform
UNIVERSAL Credit is causing “hardship and suffering” during the coronavirus pandemic and is in need of urgent change, the UK Government has been told.
Bernadette Hewitt, the tenant chair of GHA, Glasgow’s biggest social housing provider, has written to the UK Work and Pensions Secretary to tell her the fiveweek wait for a first payment is “cruel” and must be scrapped.
Ms Hewitt asked for five changes, with ending the fivewait the number one priority.
GHA has seen many tenants affected financially from the coronavirus pandemic as people lose jobs and have to apply for Universal Credit.
Others who receive one of the benefits that Universal credit replaces may have a change in income due to reduced hours or other circumstances, that means they are moved on to the new benefit.
Ms Hewitt said: “As vulnerable people all over the country know only so well, Universal Credit has been the single biggest overhaul of the welfare system in living memory.
“It is simply beyond belief, as the world is being turned upside down by coronavirus, that people are having to endure the injustice and hardship created by many cruel aspects of this new welfare system.”
Her five asks for changes are:
•A■ end to the five-week wait people moving on to Universal Credit have before a first payment is made.
•Fi■a■cia• protection for people moving on to Universal Credit from “legacy” benefits, such as Income Support and Jobseekers’ Allowance, to prevent a potential sudden drop in income.
• The housing costs element of Universal Credit (or rent) to be paid direct to landlords as the default option.
• No further suspensions of third-party deductions, such as arrears on utility bills or rent or court fines.
• Promotion of partnership working through re-instatement of the Scottish and UK-wide landlord forums.
Ms Hewitt, a mum-of-five who lives in a GHA rented house in the north of Glasgow, said: “The UK Government needs to address the additional suffering and hardship Universal Credit is causing through this pandemic, Urgent and radical action is need now.”
Wheatley Group, which GHA is part of, set up a task force to tackle the impact of Universal Credit on thousands of its tenants across the country.
Martin Armstrong, Wheatley chief executive, said: “The impact of Universal Credit during this crisis has escalated hugely as families, many for the first time in their lives, struggle with issues ranging from poverty and unemployment to social exclusion.”