Some of the worst off people have been hit the hardest by the new Universal Credit which is slowly replacing six different welfare benefits including Jobseekers Allowance and Tax Credits.
There have been huge delays with some people waiting as long as three months before they get their first payment. This has an awful impact for people waiting for their benefits, building up rent arrears, debts and relying entirely on food banks and handouts from elsewhere.
If this wasn’t a big enough scandal, the Universal Credit helpline where claimants are told to call to chase up late or lost payments charges callers 55p per minute on mobile phones. If you have to wait between six weeks and three months to get any money howe do you top up the credit on your phone? how can you chase up your lost or delayed benefit claim?
Those of us who have had to call such numbers to sort out benefits and pensions know only too well just how long such calls can take. The worst off among us in our community are kept waiting for weeks for their benefits, they are forced to run up rent arrears and other debts while waiting, have to rely on food banks, and with the onset of winter will be living in very cold homes because they can’t afford to put the heating on. Sign the petition to scrap universal benefits: https://you.38degrees./org.uk/petitions/abolish-universal-credit