IF I think about it, I don’t seem to be able to remember ever reading anything good about Universal Credit. It’s not a shock that the Tories’ favourite social security reform is, at its core, damaging to people relying on it, but it amazes me that the number of ways it is damaging continue to rise.
My SNP colleague and social justice spokesperson Neil Gray MP this week received confirmation from the Department of Work and Pensions Minister Damian Hinds that anyone who is in receipt of Universal Credit will be sanctioned if they do not apply for, or refuse offers from, zero-hours contracted jobs. The news is particularly startling given that people in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance currently do not have to apply for zero-hours contract jobs, and are not hit with punitive sanctions if they refuse an offer of a zero-hours contract.
I have written about sanctions many times, but it cannot be emphasised enough that sanctions are cruel, callous and ineffective. In fact, last year while I was working on a Private Members Bill to go through Parliament that would have made significant changes to how the sanctions regime works and make the system much more humane, a report was released by the National Audit Office which showed sanctions cost more to administer than they save from cutting peoples access to benefits.
You would think, then, that the profit obsessed Tory Government would have reconsidered the discredited system and moved to scrap it altogether, but instead they are now opening up the sanctions regime to even more people who refuse to take exploitative zero-hours contract jobs.
I find this baffling, but it speaks to the attitude of this government. It’s not about “balancing the books”, or “living within our means” or “magic money trees”, it’s about propelling the wealth of the wealthy and punishing the poor.
This attitude helps to explain their love for zero-hours contracts, which leave workers with less protection, while not being offered sufficient working hours one week, then being penalised when not able work huge hours the following week. They are an underlying cause of inequality and poverty in this country and should be banned altogether.
This information was revealed in the same week that councillors, foodbanks, housing associations and charities lines up to condemn the accelerated rollout of Universal Credit to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, which I was a member of in the last Parliament. The Committee heard, in fact, that in one area of London where Universal Credit has already been rolled out there was a £1.3 million increase in rent arrears.
Last week 25 Scottish charities and organisations came together to callfor the UK Government to put on hold the rollout of Universal Credit until they have fixed the flaws of the programme in its current state.
Work from Citizens Advice Scotland showed that in areas where Universal Credit was being trialled there was a huge increase in the number of crisis grants being issued, and people falling into rent arrears. The six-week wait that it takes to start receiving Universal Credit after making a claim was forcing even more people to use foodbanks.
I wrote to the UK Minister for Employment to share the concerns of these organisations, but I doubt the response will be worth the paper it will be written on.
Around 85 per cent of social security powers remain in the hands of the Tories at Westminster, including Universal Credit. While the Scottish Government cannot put a halt to Universal Credit altogether, they can – thankfully – make some changes to help ease the burden of the programme on people and that is exactly what they are doing. To make Universal Credit more manageable the Scottish Government are giving people the option of having it paid twice a month rather than monthly, and are also giving people the option of having the housing benefit element of Universal Credit paid directly to their landlords, whether in private or social rented housing. These adjustments will help people, and hopefully prevent Universal Credit claimants falling into huge arrears.
But despite all of the negative revelations about Universal Credit this week, you never know, maybe next week something positive will finally be revealed about Universal Credit.
I have a sneaky suspicion that if something about Universal Credit was ever revealed to actually help people, however, that is when the Government will suddenly have a change of heart and put a stop to it altogether.
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