Jessica has to borrow from mum in nightmare UC ‘cycle’
THE number of Universal Credit claimants is on the rise and a woman from Macclesfield has spoken of her experiences with it.
Low-paid worker Jessica Moores, 27, has been on the benefit for several years but says she still relies on her mum to make up for her declining income.
She also says she has experienced delays in her payments and has been threatened with sanctions many times.
The majority of Universal Credit claimants in Cheshire are in their 20s.
Jessica says since starting a new job in March 2019 her income has been continually slashed by Universal Credit.
She said: “They would take so much off that I just couldn’t survive. One month they said I had been over-paid even though they had my pay slips.
”I received a letter saying I would have to pay it back because there had been a mistake.
”It was so bad that I had to borrow money from my mum and I’m still to this day, paying her back. It’s like a never-ending cycle.”
Jessica had been on the old system of Job Seekers Allowance after she left her previous job but when the transition to the new benefit was made, she did not receive any income at all.
She said: “Without my mum I wouldn’t have managed.”
The money the young claimant receives is spent on her bills as a supplement to her small income.
But any time Jessica’s wages increased, the job centre would stop her benefits completely.
UK poverty charity
Turn2Us help to provide financial support for those experiencing money struggles. Campaign manager Matt Greer said: “We routinely hear from people who are on Universal Credit and have been affected by sanctions.
“These people are desperately looking for clarity on what their rights are and searching for help to make ends meet rather than trying to ‘cheat the system’.”
The majority of people on Universal Credit in Cheshire are aged between 20-29 and are mostly female.
A number of changes to Universal Credit are taking places throughout 2020 which could result in longer transition periods, increased benefit caps and stricter sanctions.