Universal Credit Changes Are Going To Kill People

The mighty Ricky D. Hale writes:

I’m a recent Universal Credit escapee and it’s just as well because new rules are about to make life even more miserable for struggling families. These Tory bastards just love kicking people when they’re down, don’t they?

If you’re not up to date on what’s happening, I will be glad to explain, but first of all, let me tell you what my recent Universal Credit experience was like because it will help you understand the bullshit people are facing.

As a family on a fluctuating income, we’ve found ourselves claiming Universal Credit three times in recent years, and apart from a nice period during the pandemic when the bastards eased off a bit, it was a nightmare.

At the end of last year, the Jobcentre kept booking appointments so they could notify me of new commitments they’d already notified me about online. They were ordering me to attend a Jobcentre in person when I was working from home with a baby beside me. Even worse, they didn’t book me into the nearest Jobcentre that I can travel to by bus. Instead, they booked me into another Jobcentre a mile further away, meaning I would have to get the bus and walk the extra mile.

When I didn’t attend the appointment for reasons I fully notified them about, they booked two replacement appointments while I was working, despite knowing that attending would’ve meant a loss of income. It actually worked out cheaper for me to just accept the damn sanction.

If it wasn’t for the cost of living crisis, I honestly wouldn’t have bothered claiming because I was in a constant state of anxiety that I had to take medication for. Their strategy is to force people off Universal Credit, regardless of how badly they need it - and when they’re harassing and threatening people who are working and just want to eat, how is this anything other than abuse?

When you are claiming Universal Credit, it feels like the DWP owns you. Thankfully, our earnings took us just above the maximum earnings threshold in January and I’ve never felt more relieved because the crap they are unleashing on people would’ve made me close our claim. I would probably not have had any other choice.

A new minimum income threshold of £617 for individuals and £988 for couples came into effect on January 30th and anyone who fails to meet this threshold will have their Universal Credit cut. Have you ever heard of anything so perverse? In a cost of living crisis when they could very easily tax the rich, this is what they are doing to people instead.

It gets worse. The unemployed will be forced to visit a Jobcentre every day for two weeks as part of a pilot scheme by the government, and if they fail to do so, they will face sanctions. Meanwhile, doctors are being pressured by the government to not sign people off sick and Jobcentre staff will be given £250 vouchers for bullying people back into work. This is the kind of crap that will lead to suicides and I’m sure they know this.

Self-employed people who are not earning enough to be considered “gainfully self-employed” can be forced into “intensive personalised employment support” where they are expected to search for work for 35 hours a week.

At times, my earnings were too low for me to be classed as “gainfully self-employed” and I’m unsure if they would’ve forced me onto this “scheme”, but it would’ve made no sense. They would have taken me from self-employed to unemployed and that’s something I never want to go back to.

The government is bullying the poor to score political points with its extremist base and they do not care how many people they hurt. No matter what the problem is, their answer is to punish the poor even harder for the crime of being poor.

A study has shown Universal Credit claimants are worse off than they were before the pandemic and are paid £35 a week less than they need to survive (£66 a week less for couples) and that’s a low estimate.

Just stop and think about that: they’ve taken at least £35 a week from 5.7 million claimants and their families, many of who are probably using food banks. Nine out of ten families on low incomes are going without essentials such as food, utilities and vital household goods according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. If our welfare system is not covering the cost of essentials, it’s not really a welfare system, is it?

Currently, 40% of Universal Credit claimants are in work as are 68% of people who are living in poverty. Meanwhile, Tory MPs are complaining about their “desperation” living off £84,144 plus expenses and second jobs - that’s money most of us could only dream about. Universal Credit is typically only a few thousand pounds a year - obviously, it varies depending on your income and the number of people in your family.

Given how tight money is for some people, I honestly don’t know how the unemployed are surviving, and I say that as someone who is adept at surviving on almost nothing. Back when I was a single lad on Jobseeker’s Allowance, I was paid £80 a fortnight and lived off little more than a 50p bag of porridge oats and diluted milk. I’ve been known to make a fiver last a fortnight and while it was possible, this lifestyle should certainly not be encouraged. That level of poverty stops your body and mind from functioning properly. It’s dangerous.

It makes me physically sick to think people are still going through this crap and in many ways, it’s even worse now. It’s all completely unnecessary too. Countries across northern Europe have a more generous welfare system and do you know what they find? That people get back into employment quicker. Not only is our welfare system cruel, it’s self-defeating.