A rant from within the ranks of the precariat -
about Universal credit.
Universal Credit consolidates 6 benefits into 1 payment, so
it includes benefits for those in work such as income support and tax credits
and housing benefit
We need to be alarmed because there's been a significant rise in use of food banks and cases of homelessness in areas where UC has been put into
effect
and for this the Government needs to be made accountable.
Croydon Council has requests an extra 3.1 million from the Government to cover
the cost of rent arrears.
The Croydon chronicle reports - last year council gave a total
of £2m in emergency rent money to families on benefits who would otherwise have
risked losing their homes – by next March that figure is set to be £3.1m.
But it’s not just difficulties for claimants during the that we need to be concerned about,
there is a very sinister side to UC.
Payments are conditional.
There is a work preparation requirement that forces
claimants to commit to 35 hours/week in work related activities such as job searches, unpaid internships etc.
the onus is on claimants to improve
their financial circumstances
and if this requirement is not met, then sanctions are
imposed.
And sanctions cause destitution.
Rather than providing support for working people, UC,
through the DWPs toolbox of harsh punishments for any deviance from its plan to
get people in work, can be used to force people to accept unsuitable work
conditions such as low pay, unsociable hours or unreasonable shifts or simply
to work during times of personal difficulty or ill-health.
For example I quit my job as a warehouse operative last
year, I’ve spent my savings, and I’m looking for job,
the only job I’ve been
offered in the past month that met my requirements for a decent terms, ie.
guaranteed hours and a real living wage, was the nightshift as a pump truck
operator in a warehouse.
As a single parent with a teenager in college I didn’t take
the job because it would miss daily contact with my family.
But under UC I might get sanctioned if I didn’t accept work
that was offered to me.
I’m no expert, but it seems to me that this 'commitment to
work' requirement undermines some very basic human rights; rights to health,
dignity and family life.
UC leaves us with no choice other than complicity in the system
that exploits workers and serves the fat cats.
I’ll explain
UC is fundamentally flawed. It has been designed to ‘make
work pay’.
But
decades of neoliberalism and policies that have supported
corporate growth and
undermined worker’s rights have served to normalize low wages and work insecurity
and forcing people to work in this system of exploitation is
simply
feeding the market.
There is no doubt, we are in crisis.
Nurses, are now relying on pay day loans and food banks.
Despite record low unemployment figures, statistics from the
DWP show a sharp rise in recent decades of in-work poverty, the Joseph
Rowntree Foundation reports that 1 in 5
children in poverty in UK today are living in a household with at least 1 adult
working.
This trajectory must be stopped and reversed.
So, before this gov pushes people to work, it has some work to do
- it needs to end public sector pay caps
- set a minimum wage that is a real living wage, and keep it
pegged to the real cost of living
-end zero hour contracts
-end use of Swedish Derogation so that agency workers get
proper pay
- abolish legislation such as the Trade Union Act 2016 that restricts
trade union activities
- support Trade Union membership and organization.
If the government wants to make work pay then there needs to
be an employment strategy that is fair and dignified
and that makes work pay for
workers.
So Unite community is running a campaign to urge the Gov to
stop and fix universal credit.
The campaign has had some successes:
claimants may now make calls without being charged;
and the recent budget had some helpful concessions;
- the 7 day wait for new claims has been abolished in response
to complaints about the 6 week wait for new claimants
- advance payments (loans) can be given for 100% of claim, up
form 50% - to be repaid over 12 months
- and
in response to the problem of rent arrears 2 week Universal Credit payment can be claimed for
those transferring from housing benefit.
We can be effective.
You can stand up for your rights with us at Unite Community,
together we can, and must, negotiate for systems that work for us.
#fixuniversalcredit
