Universal Credit is unfit for purpose
A lot has happened over the past few weeks, but perhaps the most significant thing is the change from Level 3 to Level 2 for most areas of Scotland.
I implore everyone in Renfrewshire to follow public health guidance, get vaccinated as soon as you can, self-isolate when necessary, and, above all, be careful. Normalcy is within touching distance. With vaccines rolling out, people from most areas being able to visit loved ones in their homes, people heading to pubs and all the other truly wonderful changes that have come along with restrictions easing, it’s easy to get a bit swept up in it and forget that the economic consequences of the pandemic are still largely ongoing.
Many businesses remain shuttered, and many families are suffering as people lose work or see their hours reduced.
It is not in any way an exaggeration to call this the greatest economic catastrophe in decades.
What many of us are worried about right now however, as recovery and normalcy increase, is that the Tories are going to pull the rug out from under the hundreds of thousands of people who are relying on the social security net to keep them afloat.
I’ve explained in detail many times all the ways in which Universal Credit has been unfit for purpose and should never have been rolled out in the state it was in.
When Theresa May was Prime Minister, her government tinkered around the edges of the project – slightly reducing the waiting period for the first payment for example – but they didn’t address the core issue.
Universal Credit did not and does not pay enough. The Tories denied this obviously, because reporting an extra 0.001 per cent reduction in the deficit plays better with their core vote in England’s leafy suburbs than making sure struggling families can afford luxuries like food.
There was no greater admittance of how unfit for purpose Universal Credit is than when Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £ 20 uplift to the benefit when the pandemic started.
My SNP colleagues and I have fought to have this not just extended but made permanent since it was introduced.
The Chancellor has been consistently clear that they won’t keep it, however, and now it’s due to end in October.
You might think it’s early to be blowing the siren on this, but it’s actually a critical time right now.
As things start to look more like prepandemic life, if people believe the support they currently receive is going to disappear, they may be more inclined to take risks with their health.
We can’t afford people going to work when they should be self- isolating because they don’t know how things will look in a few months and don’t want to upset the bosses. Everyone needs to have confidence that they can do the right thing without suffering hardship.
It should go without saying.
The number of people claiming Universal Credit in Scotland has jumped 86 per cent in the past year, up from 264,000 to almost half a million.
People still need support and confidence in the support continuing.
Last time we had an economic crisis the Tories turned to austerity – they cut budgets and cut people’s social security benefits.
They forced disabled people into dehumanising health assessments.
The ramifications of austerity politics are still felt now. I see it every day in my constituency office.
If the Prime Minister really meant it when he talked about “building back better” and “levelling up” he’d be focussing on building a social security system fit for purpose, not hacking away at it.
No doubt the Prime Minister will soon be proclaiming about the wonder of GDP increases as people suffer through this cut. An economy grows from investment.
That investment can and should be made directly into the people.