Leanne: Give AMs welfare powers to end ‘unimaginable suffering’ caused by benefit reforms
BRITAIN’S welfare system is causing “unimaginable suffering” in Wales and Westminster should transfer key powers to the Assembly so AMs can fix key problems, according to Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood.
Ms Wood’s intervention comes against a backdrop of mounting concern about plans to roll out Universal Credit, with the Archbishop of York condemning waiting times for payments of up to six weeks as “grotesquely ignorant”.
It is feared the six-week wait will push people deeper into debt and lead to more rent arrears and evictions.
Rhondda AM Ms Wood said Universal Credit, which combines a series of benefits into a single payment, is “broken and in desperate need of fixing” and is demanding that a series of welfare powers are devolved to the Assembly.
She wants to end a “culture of sanctions” and ensure payments are made to individuals rather than households.
Theresa May last week committed to ensure people are no longer charged up to 55p a minute to call a Universal Credit helpline and ordered her party to abstain on a non-binding Labour motion calling for the roll-out to be paused.
But Commons Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field has warned that unless Mrs May reforms Universal Credit the Conservatives could be seen as “the nasty party” – a phrase Mrs May used back in 2002.
He warned that the “six-week period of limbo under Universal Credit is pushing families to the brink of destitution”.
However, Conservative MP Stephen McPartland said he believed the critics were “very, very close to getting a resolution” on calls to cut the waiting time to four weeks.
Ms Wood said: “The British Government’s welfare system is causing unnecessary and unimaginable suffering to thousands of people across Wales and the other UK countries. Those in desperate situations, unable to work due to sickness, disability, caring for dependents and other reasons are facing the prospect of being sanctioned, losing their safety net, and being forced into poverty...
“The system is broken and in need of fixing. The attitude of the Tories – disregarding an integral part of democracy in refusing to take part in a debate last week in the House of Commons – is abhorrent.
“Wales must be allowed the tools to fix the welfare system ourselves. We certainly cannot expect a British Government that seems hellbent on pushing people further and further into poverty, to put things right.
“Given the necessary tools, we could put an end to the culture of sanctions, alter the frequency of payments, and ensure payments are made to individuals and not households.”
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, said the waiting period is leaving people who are already in debt with “nothing to fall back on”.
He said: “In the Bible, the hardestpressed of all poor people were summarised as ‘widows and orphans’ for they were the group most at risk and with least support. Our concern should be for their present-day successors