Great Britain's Universal Credit System: It Failed But Hey, Too Late, We'll Carry On Anyway. (As The Suffering Continued, They Stood Back And Waited For Time. Choking On Their Champagne)

in #money6 years ago (edited)

What Is Universal Credit?


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It is a system within the UK that was introduced in 2013 as the new alternative to Jobseekers Allowance, Working Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits, and a bunch of other benefits which various people on low income or struggling families can claim.

It's aim was to combine 6 benefits under the one umbrella in order to simplify the UK benefit system and overall save time and money. People would be paid monthly instead of every 2 weeks, the amount would be worked out based on where you lived, if you worked and what type of job you did, whether you have a family to support or a mental health condition and whether you needed help with rent.

It was all worked out based on what?


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Apparently the money entitlements are all worked out in just 3 steps:
The Standard Allowance
This is supposed to be the equivalent of what Jobseekers Allowance is, about £70 per week.
Additional benefits payments are added on if children, disability conditions or housing support needs apply.

Deductions
This is step 2 of the decision which is worked out by checking to see how much savings someone has, whether the work and how much they get paid and whether there is any other income coming into the household.

More Deductions
Step 3 of the decision process is to reduce payments should someone owe the benefits or social funding departments any money.

£317 per month

Is what the average 25+ year old person in entitled too when they claim universal credit.

The Ultimate Solution?

"Universal credit will mean that people will be consistently and transparently better off for each hour they work and every pound they earn." - Iain Duncan Smith (UK Secretary for Work & Pensions guy)

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The Universal Ambition

The government hopes the reform will:
• Simplify the system.
• Reduce the financial and administrative barriers to taking up work.
• Make it easier for people to understand how much they will gain by taking a job.
• Create greater incentives to take up work.
• Prepare out-of-work claimants for their next job.
• Reduce the amount spent on administration and tracking down fraud and error.
• Reduce (in the longer term) the number of children and adults living in poverty.
• Reduce the number of workless households by always ensuring that work pays.

The Universal Outcome: 5 Years Into The Masterplan ...

(Factual Information taken from the UK National Audit Office ( #NAO) report released on June 15th 2008)

The roll-out of Universal Credit, which begun in 2013, was supposed to be completed throughout the country by the end of October 2017. In fact, now, in June 2018, only 10% of expected caseloads have been completed with 4 in 10 of these facing more suffering and hardships than they were before Universal Credit was introduced.

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"The NAO has seen evidence from local and national bodies that many people have suffered difficulties and hardship during the roll out of the full service."

"The NAO states the Department has not shown sufficient sensitivity towards some claimants and that it does not know how many claimants are having problems with the programme or have suffered hardship."

In 2017 more than 1/4 of Universal Credit claimants had delays of over 4 weeks before a decision was made and benefits were rewarded, and whatever was going on behind the scenes that year caused over 40% of claimants to be left waiting for money and support for 11 weeks or longer! 20% were forced to wait over 5 months! for any money.

Imagine trying to support a family without any income for 11 weeks! let alone 5 months!


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In 2017, whichever town or city Universal credit was activated in, evidence shows up to a 30% increase in food bank use in many areas. A food bank service is becoming more common in this day and age. It is a place where families and people have to go to ask for food to be given to them, often using a ticket system, all because they have all been left with no money to eat or survive.

Universal Credit has been like a whirlwind of destruction wherever it has been introduced. The longer people have been made to wait, the more they have had to borrow and the more they have to pay back on the most minimum amounts of money. Which is fucked up in such a wealthy, modern and rich Western country such as the UK.

Come March 2018, there have been some improvements in which the speeds of processing new applications have quicker, but 20% of people are still left waiting for full payments on time, 13% are still waiting over 4 weeks, and the NAO have found no evidence to suggest that these figures will improve any further during 2018. And when I say figures I mean actual individual people and their children and families, people who have to go "begging" for food, can barely afford clothes for their growing children, everyday debts climb, and in the winter, they are force to freeze in blankets to save money and stop the electric being cut.

This is what pieces of the UK 2018 look like! Thanks to a "brilliant idea" by some rich clueless people in power.

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Why is it taking so long?

To help paint a picture, here is a quote from James Johnson, a Case Manager for one of the Universal Credit departments;

Many of my colleagues feel out of their depth with the quantity of claims they manage, resulting in a vast amount of crucial work never being completed until claimants contact us when their payments are inevitably paid incorrectly or not at all.

We’re so understaffed that case managers going on holiday can have a significant impact on claimants. These claimants are completely neglected, sometimes for many weeks, as colleagues are told to only send out payments for the people they manage themselves. In other words, if the person who’s looking after your universal credit payment takes some annual leave, you could be left penniless by accident.

Another problem is compounded by employees’ lack of knowledge about the universal credit regulations which can have an especially devastating impact on care leavers, the disabled and those with mental health conditions. It can take over 3 weeks for earning queries to be reviewed or disputed.

To top it off it seems that the Department for Work and Pensions are cutting jobs and reducing what buildings and locations they are operating from. Over 750 jobs were cut last year.

It's not all bad?

60% of Universal Credit claimants have been able to claim an advance payment. Which is great when left waiting for 5 months without money, but rubbish when that get deducted from your entitlement down the line. Instant debt as soon as you are in a position of no income. Great.

The NAO have estimated that over 300,000 new Universal Credit claimants will received late response and payments over the next year. The more complex the person's situation, the longer the wait.


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Just as the trail of food bank use can be statistically viewed by following the unleashing of Universal Credit across the country, rent arrears and housing problems can be witnessed also. Whilst people are left waiting for there money to come through, they are left to burden other authorities such as councils and charitys, and clock up debts with their landlords and household bills.
It has been estimated that it takes people over 12 months to catch up and pay back their rent arrears.

This has lead to many landlords and property developers to stop renting out to people on Universal Credit. Just at a time when affordable housing is desperately needed across the UK.

No Going Back


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The NAO believes that the new system and attempts at doing things differently has gone on for too long now that there is no alternative solution and no way to go back to how things were before. Therefore, despite the many, many issues, faults, delays and increased poverty situations, the "great" Universal Plan will continue to play out.

It now becomes a game of numbers, out of hundreds of thousands of people in difficult positions, how many will receive the required amount of help which this Great country insists they should have, vs how many more will have to suffer first. (And yes, there is much evidence out there showing many people in these situations committing suicide or at the very least developing harsh mental and social problems, due to the lack of support and growing dooms they are destined to inccur through this system).

It would be so complex and costly to return to legacy benefits at this stage that the NAO believes there is no practical alternative but to continue with Universal Credit. - NAO

The Final Say

In summary the NAO said;

"The Department has kept pushing the Universal Credit rollout forward through a series of problems. We recognise both its determination and commitment, and that there is really no practical choice but to keep on keeping on with the rollout. “We don’t think DWP has shown the same commitment to listening and responding to the hardship faced by claimants. Maybe a change of mind set will follow the publication of the claimant survey on 8 June. We think the larger claims for Universal Credit, such as boosted employment, are unlikely to be demonstrable at any point in future. Nor for that matter will value for money.”

Universal Credit: Like It or Not

  1. Since 2013 it has cost £1.3 Billion to implement and run this Universal Credit scheme.
  2. After changing the roll-out deadline schedule 4 times! It is now estimated that Universal Credit will in fact be Universal to the whole of the UK by December 2018. (But i wouldn't hold any breathes here!)
  3. Nothing has yet been suggested on how to improve the initial "how to claim" processes. At the moment, people are required to apply online, complete a form and upload and send documents and proof of I.D. 46% of first time claimants struggled and couldn't complete the application process in this way. Resulting in extra workloads and phone calls. Extra time and delays due to staff reductions in a department which is in desperate need for extra staff!
  4. The Universal Credit scheme was supposed to save the country £335 million per year compared to the current benefit systems, however the NAO says:-

"We cannot be certain that Universal Credit will ever be cheaper to administer than the benefits it replaces"

The Universal Idea: Living The Dream

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