Next month Universal Credit will go live in Redcar and Cleveland, following the switch that's taken place in Middlesbrough this month. The Labour candidate, aided and abetted by defeated Mayoral candidate Cllr Sue Jeffery, is deliberately frightening vulnerable people without cause and this morning I called it out on BBC Tees. You can listen back at 1:10 on the link here.
One of our local Labour MPs has turned down FOUR invitations to visit their local Job Centre. Why? Because they are more interested in playing politics than understanding what is going on.
WHAT IS UNIVERSAL CREDIT AND WHY IS IT NEEDED?
Universal Credit is a modern benefit based on the sound principles that work should always pay and those who need support receive it. The old system failed to make work pay because it created ‘cliff edges’ – where people suddenly lost lots of money if they worked more than 16, 24 or 30 hours. This meant some people paid an effective tax rate of over 90 per cent - denying them the opportunity of more work.
Under this old system, 1.4 million people spent most of a decade trapped on benefits instead of being helped into work. Taxpayer-funded welfare spending went up by over 60 per cent (£84 billion in today’s prices) under Labour between 1997-2010, and the number of households where no one had *ever* worked almost doubled. There is nothing moral or kind about that record.
As well as trapping people on benefits, 700,000 households are missing out on benefits they are entitled to, losing on average £285 a month. Universal Credit puts all that right.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Under Universal Credit claimants have a dedicated one-to-one work coach, who stays with them throughout their claim, helping them into work. It is a more flexible benefit, covering 85% of child care costs for working parents, compared to just 70% under the legacy system, and is designed to ensure that people are better off for every additional hour worked.
When rolled out, Universal Credit will help an extra 200,000 people into work, and empower people to work an extra 113 million hours because they are better off for every additional hour worked. It will also ensure that around 1 million disabled households receive an average of £110 more per month.
LABOUR'S MYTH ABOUT "NO MONEY AT CHRISTMAS"
The claim Labour are spinning this week is that families will be left with no money at Christmas. I spoke to Claire Naylor at the local DWP yesterday and she said:
“For any customer that makes their claim on or after the 28th November 2018 (date of go live) and are within their first assessment period covering the festive period, personal budgeting support is available as are advances of payment. We will work closely with customers to ensure we have all information required to make these payments in full and on time”.
Universal Credit is paid in arrears, in the same way as a monthly salary. During your first month, you can apply for an advance of up to 100%, repayable interest-free over a year.
Our local Job Centres are closed for only four days over the holidays: 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
The message that needs to go out loud and clear is please engage with your case manager, work with them to provide the information required and the system will work for you.