The gaping hole in Tory logic that makes Universal Credit a universal disaster

Last Updated: March 17, 2017By


Lord Henley must know perfectly well that advance payments are just that – early payment of money that would normally be due later. They’ll be subtracted from any future benefit payout, making claimants no better able to cope with the debt the waiting rule intentionally forces them to rack up.

And this is the point: The seven-day waiting rule pushes debt onto benefit claimants that they should not have to suffer.

We all pay our taxes – all of us, either directly or indirectly. The Tories do not have any grounds to deny social security benefits to those of us who are in need.

And when their excuses are as ridiculous as Lord Henley’s, they really deserve to have the ground pulled out from under them.

Universal credit claimants are being forced to turn to pay day lenders and loan sharks by delays in payments, peers have warned.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats urged ministers at Lords question time to drop a seven-day waiting rule for new claimants.

But Work and Pensions minister Lord Henley defended the current rules, saying claimants could apply for advance payments if they were in need.

Source: Universal credit claimants ‘turning to loan sharks because of payment delays’

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7 Comments

  1. joanna March 17, 2017 at 1:51 am - Reply

    I can’t, I don’t have any credit. What credit companies don’t mention is that they require an advanced payment, I know because someone tried to use my Identity to get payday loans, as a result two lots of £79 was removed from my bank account.
    I got it back and I was compensated, but it did leave me with a credit mark against my name. Added to the fact, that I don’t have any family to get help from, so how am I supposed to survive? Even if I did have family, there is no guarantee that they could help especially if they are in the same position.

  2. Dez March 17, 2017 at 8:28 am - Reply

    Another totally out of touch Lord with little in the way of brain cells or common sense. If someone needs help waiting seven days is just not on and is that 7 working days or calender days? Actually promoting another alternative admin heavy route of advanced payments just incurs admin costs making just give them their entitlement
    a cheaper and quicker route. Some of these dim Lords and Sirs “yes men” just do ones head in.

  3. Rose March 17, 2017 at 9:22 am - Reply

    Mark Kermode on the BBC News Channel (Freeview 130) when reviewing Ken Loache’s film “I, Daniel Blake” described the new social security inflicted on the country as “… a harrowing tale about how bureaucracy and bureaucratic inefficiency can be used as a means of repression”. I think this sums up Universal Credit perfectly.

  4. Zippi March 17, 2017 at 12:24 pm - Reply

    I resent paying certain taxes, because, when I fall on hard time and need money, I am denied help. What’s the point? I might as well keep the money. Why should I have to pay tax on money that I have not earnt, yet not be entitled to benefit, when I am not earning? Sense? You tell me. I don’t bother to sign on; maybe, that’s what the Tories desire, red or blue so, I don’t appear on the official unemployment figures.

  5. Samuel Miller (@Hephaestus7) March 17, 2017 at 3:01 pm - Reply

    The problem with the DWP’s “well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans” is that they are all loans and must be repaid under Universal Credit.

    Under Universal Credit, hardship payments must be … — Twishort https://twishort.com/3Uwhc

    Get an advance payment of Universal Credit – Citizens Advice https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/apply/get-advance-payment/

    The advance payment is a loan – you’ll have to pay it back. The repayments will be automatically deducted from your Universal Credit payments until the advance is fully paid back. This means that you’ll get smaller Universal Credit payments while you pay back the advance payment, which will take at least 3 months.

  6. mrmarcpc March 17, 2017 at 4:41 pm - Reply

    Always said that UC was a huge white elephant!

  7. Zippi March 19, 2017 at 2:39 am - Reply

    Universal Credit was the most scary thing that I had heard about, when it was discussed at a Union meeting, some years since; it can actually end careers! If you are self-employed and fall on hard times, God help you, nobody else will be able to. Only evil persons would dream up such a thing and try to pass it off as help, assistance, aye, like a hand on the head of a drowning man!

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