I asked Job Centre, who is going to feed my child?
UNIVERSAL CREDIT HAS DRIVEN ME INTO DEBT SAYS NURSE WORKING 54-HOUR WEEK AS MPS AND MAYOR CALL FOR ACTION
EVICTIONS, homelessness, debt and even suicide will all rise if the government’s ‘chaotic’ Universal Credit roll-out continues across Greater Manchester, ministers have been told.
In a dire warning to Whitehall, a string of senior public figures have demanded an immediate halt to the policy.
Charities have dubbed it a ‘universal catastrophe’, while claimants say it has made them sick with stress.
Greater Manchester’s mayor Andy Burnham warned that rough sleeping would double if the roll-out continued.
Universal Credit is the government’s flagship six-in-one benefit payment, designed to replace income-based Jobseekers’ Allowance, housing benefit, child tax credits, income support, working tax credit and employment and support allowance.
Ministers began to pilot it in Tameside in 2013 before rolling out to Oldham and further afield, arguing the streamlined payment encourages people into work and out of poverty.
As of this month, all eligible claimants in parts of Manchester will automatically be placed on to it for the first time – starting last week in Moss Side.
But experts have repeatedly highlighted a catalogue of problems, including a minimum six-week wait for payments, as well as a confusing online application system, lost documentation and repeated administrative errors.
In Tameside, social landlord New Charter Housing has seen a 63pc rise in average rent arrears since the pilot began.
Julie Vickers, New Charter Group’s director of revenues said: “Having been involved in the Universal Credit pilot back in 2013, we expect the full service roll-out to have a huge impact on our tenants.
“The waiting time for the first Universal Credit payment is far too long, which means people are getting themselves into debt straight away with no savings to fall back on.”
In Oldham, which introduced the benefit not long afterwards, the town’s food bank has seen a 77pc increase in people needing parcels due to benefit delays or changes.
Council benefits advisers are spending an average hour and 10 minutes on the phone helping claimants through the online application.
Mr Burnham has urged the government on behalf of all the region’s public sector bodies to halt the Universal Credit roll-out.
Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell said she was ‘dreading’ its expansion, describing the system as ‘chaotic and broken’.
Gurtac Swali, 46, a single dad-ofthree on a zero-hours contract, is one of those who has approached her for help. The care worker, from Longsight, says his Universal Credit payments never tally with what he was originally assessed to receive.
More than £210 is currently being deducted from his entitlement each month but he has no idea why – and he has been passed from one department to another in his search for an answer. He believes he would be better off if he quit his job. “I’m just going in circles,” he said. “I’m feeling ill. I can’t eat properly, I can’t get to sleep at night properly because I’ve got no money. But if I stopped working, they’d start putting pressure on me to get another job and if I can’t find one they’ll start sanctioning me.
“There will be struggling people when this is rolled out further. People will be pushed to suicide.”
There are 45,000 people in Greater Manchester on the benefit, but that figure is set to rocket around tenfold. Rusholme, Didsbury, New- ton Heath, Wythenshawe and Openshaw are all due to see the benefit rolled out in the coming weeks.
Charities including Manchester’s Booth Centre, Lifeshare and Greater Manchester Law Centre have now signed a joint letter to ministers, warning: “We call on central government to halt the roll-out while all of these problems are looked at, and avoid creating so much more suffering by the poor and low-paid.
“Universal Credit, if rolled out in its current form, is a universal catastrophe.”
Debbie Abrahams, Oldham East and Saddleworth MP and shadow welfare secretary, yesterday grilled Secretary of State David Gauke on the roll-out. He said the benefit was working, adding that the roll-out was ‘gradual and sensible’.
Advanced payments are now made to claimants after a fortnight, he said, to avoid a full six-week wait. He added: “The evidence so far shows those who go on to Universal Credit are more likely to be working six months later.
“They are also more likely to be progressing in work and that’s really important. And that’s not something I want to deny people. Universal Credit means that it’s worth working that extra hour.”
In response, Ms Abrahams said: “With all the opposition and warnings about the dangers of continuing the national roll-out of Universal Credit, David Gauke can’t seriously still believe that the system is fit for-purpose.
“This leaves me to conclude that, in spite of the evidence, this Tory government don’t want to lose face and so are prepared to press on with UC roll out regardless of the harm it is causing. It’s shameful.”