Neither universal nor a credit, the name Universal Credit (UC) comes straight from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) public relations unit. Originally ‘social security’ was one of the three pillars of the Welfare State together with the National Health Service and schooling. All three were an entitlement and a right. That has changed and now payments by the state are regarded as acts of charity and applicants have to be humble and obedient.
Warnings for the near future
It is a mistake to see Universal Credit as a payment to just the poorest and most vulnerable in society. Applicants for Universal Credit are in a range of circumstances, from being unemployed, temporarily unemployed, having children and on maternity/paternity leave, becoming unwell, having an accident and having a pensionable partner. Those dependent on housing benefit as a regular subsidy to a landlord are in great danger of falling behind with the rent and being evicted. All social security payments are gradually being transferred to Universal Credit and rolled into one monthly payment to the head of the household. Most of us will be put on the system at some time in our lives and personally encounter what austerity cuts really mean. There have been thousands of reports, mostly on social media but occasionally hitting the headlines, about the consequences of the UC system, up to and including extreme hunger and suicide. Some families are simply paid too little to live on and have to choose between heating and food. People with dis-abi-lities are being herded into an early grave. Others are sanctioned (punished) and left with no money at all, some-times for months because they have transgressed by missing or being late for job centre appointments (no matter the reason), or because they have not made enough effort to find a job, or for dozens of other misdemeanours.
Constant errors in the system
Universal Credit was designed to efficiently deliver government cuts, but the system is riddled with errors. The illusion was that a fully-computerised system would calculate all payments at the touch of the screen. How wrong this is. Councils report a stream of ‘bizarre mistakes’; in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets 539 such errors were recorded in one year, including an overpayment of £25,000 and an underpayment of £8,000, causing chaos and misery for many claimants.
DWP protects its honour
The Trussell Trust says, ‘On average, 12 months after roll-out [of UC], food banks see a 52% increase in demand, compared to 13% in areas with Universal Credit for three months or less.’ Secretary of State Amber Rudd has confessed that there is this link between UC and the growing use of food banks, unlike her predecessor in the post, Esther McVey. Criticism has become so widespread that the DWP has felt forced to launch a counter-attack, with a £250,000 campaign misleadingly packaged as a four-page journalistic ‘investigation’ in the Metro. After its plans were leaked, prompting threats of protesters burning piles of the paper, it was forced to sneak its flagship ‘myth-busting’ fake news out early. The propaganda claims, for example, that the threat of sanctions, or being left for weeks without money, is merely ‘scaremongering’. The paper was pub-lished on 22 May – the same day the UN Rapporteur on Poverty published his damning report into a system he said ‘was fast falling into universal discredit’.
Intelligent BBC?
BBC2 is preparing a three-part doc-umentary which it says will ‘intel-ligently explore’ Universal Credit, filming at three job centres in Peck-ham, south London, Newton Heath, Manchester, and Toxteth, Liverpool. Jobcentre staff have been advised that, if inter-viewed, they must abide by the Civil Service code of ‘neutrality’. Rather than fighting to defend the right of staff to speak out on behalf of the working class, their union, the PCS, has advised them to be ‘careful what they say as civil servants’ as ‘there is no guarantee they won’t be disciplined’ if they cha-llenge the DWP narrative. Meanwhile, the BBC has assured it will run all footage past the DWP before release – though, of course, the BBC protests it has editorial ‘independence’.
Campaigns are springing up around the country. And no wonder. Jennifer Jones of Sheffield Stop and Scrap Universal Credit is severely disabled and expects to lose £400 a month on UC though she is already on the breadline. Last week in north London a woman came running up to sign the RCG petition against UC saying, ‘I’ve been on UC for three months and told that I am in £1,300 in debt to them! Why? They can’t even explain it to me’. They are just some of the thousands affected by this thoroughly discredited scheme.
Susan Davidson
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 270 June/July 2019
