To consider the following Motion in the names of Councillors Uppal, A U Pinnock, Pandor, Homewood, Ullah, Murgatroyd, Griffiths, Kaushik, Richards, Walker, Loonat, Hill, McBride, Mather, and Khan;
“This Council notes the Universal Credit (UC) policy is flawed, causing unnecessary hardship to local families and people across the country whilst failing to meet its original aims.
This council further notes, that in Kirklees, following the roll out of UC Full Service in November 2017,13,989 people are in receipt of UC support, which has led to problems with rent arrears, and general indebtedness particularly from the 5 week minimum wait for an initial payment. Kirklees Neighbourhood figures as at 1 October 2018 suggest UC claimants represented 32% of rent accounts in arrears which totalled £1.2m of the debt owed.
In addition, there has been an increased use of local welfare service provision referrals to four Kirklees foodbanks, up 27% from the same period in the previous year. Recent figures from The Welcome Centre Foodbank (WCF) in Huddersfield show 1 in 5 people who use the foodbank do so because of problems with Universal Credit. Between May to July 2018 referrals to WCF due to Universal Credit stood at 611, up from 469 referrals between January and April.
Official figures show hundreds of thousands of UC payments made nationally are being subject to deductions used to pay back arrears in rent, council tax and utility bills, pushing families into a downward spiral of debt and poverty. Similarly, the Local Welfare Provision (LWP) team in Kirklees are taking more calls from residents who have not been able to make their UC payment last due to insufficient funds including deductions taken from their payments due to advances, arrears payments or tax credit overpayments. The LWP team told us that there was too much reliance on the advance payments system, in reality a loan, which plunges claimants into debt. Between 1 April to 24 August 2018, 64% of referrals from the LWP team to local foodbanks, including for fuel vouchers, were due to UC claimants struggling with the inadequacy of support. This compares to 33% for the period 1/11/17 to 31/3/18.
In addition, for people on UC who are in work, but are paid weekly, fortnightly or 4 weekly, the monthly UC payment is causing additional issues with two or more wages in one pay period resulting in no UC support the following month; self-employed workers on UC are worse off than under legacy benefits and compared with employees; and disabled people unable to work, are also worse off than under legacy benefits, and may be pushed into poverty as a result.
Although the managed migration of UC has been restricted to a pilot, thousands of people are due to transition on to UC this year as a result of ‘natural migration’ (a change in their circumstances).
Furthermore, although UC payments are to go to the primary carer in the household, there are issues with the childcare element of Universal Credit leaving many households in debt.
The High Court also recently found in favour of four single mothers who had brought a legal challenge against the government on the grounds that Universal Credit failed to take account of fluctuating income when they were paid twice in a month because their payday fell very near the end of the month.
Policy in Practice has warned 40% of UC claimants will lose out by an average of £59 a week compared to the old system. In addition, research for Mirror Money reveals 80% of people on UC say it doesn’t cover their essential living costs, 72% have had to borrow money and ended up in debt and 56% receive less through UC than from the old benefits system.
Despite some tweaks to UC in the Autumn budget, such as an increase in work allowances, and by the new Work and Pensions Secretary, including scaling back the proposed Managed Migration, the policy continues to leave many of our residents on the lowest incomes in poverty and suffering. The Work and Pensions Secretary has gone as far as to say the roll out of Universal Credit may have led to increased use of food banks.
This Council therefore resolves to write to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, making these points, demanding that, if the Government is refusing to scrap Universal Credit, that they:
- Stop the freeze in social security payments
- Scrap the 5-week wait for U
- Provide the option for alternative pay arrangements for UC
- Make advance payments with no repayable loans
- Pay childcare payments upfront
- Stop the two-child limit in support”
Decision:
Item not considered (due to time constraints).