Universal Credit schedule slip is a reprieve for struggling families

Last Updated: July 22, 2016By
The Omen: Work and pensions secretary Damian Green said the delay was to add ‘contingency’ into the delivery programme [Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA].

The Omen: Work and pensions secretary Damian Green said the delay was to add ‘contingency’ into the delivery programme [Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA].

This Guardian article makes the important point – that the latest rescheduling of Universal Credit means millions of claimants who stand to lose thousands of pounds a year have a temporary reprieve.

Even more important is the underlying question: Why are people being punished because there aren’t enough jobs, and because employers expect the taxpayer to subsidise those that are available?

The Tories had a chance to do something about the latter issue but their ‘National Living Wage’ is a misnomer, as it doesn’t pay enough for a working person to survive without state assistance.

At least the delay until 2022 means it will be possible to get a Labour government elected before this travesty reaches completion.

Let’s hope a sensible work and pensions minister will do the decent thing – and scrap it.

The government’s universal credit scheme has once again slipped behind schedule and will now not be completed until 2022, five years behind its original projected finish date, officials have admitted.

Critics said the latest rescheduling – which adds 12 months to the last published planned completion date and is the seventh reset since 2013 – raised the question of whether the much-criticised welfare programme was fit for purpose.

Ironically, the delay will have the effect of providing temporary respite for millions of claimants who stood to lose thousands of pounds a year when they were moved across to universal credit from the tax credits system after July 2018.

Around 2.5 million families currently receiving working tax credits will be between £41 and £46 a week worse off under UC as a result of cuts introduced last year by the former chancellor, George Osborne, according to estimates by the Resolution Foundation thinktank.

Source: Universal credit falls five years behind schedule | Society | The Guardian

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11 Comments

  1. NMac July 22, 2016 at 10:22 am - Reply

    I remember a long time ago that nasty piece of work Letwin saying that not only did he want people to be frightened of their employer, but also he wanted a tee a number of people vying for the same job. It was the Tory intention all along to punish people for being unable to find non-existent jobs. It’s all part of their plan to take the country back into the 19th century. As the present Prime Minister said, the Tories are known as the Nasty Party. They’ll never be any different.

  2. joanna July 22, 2016 at 10:46 am - Reply

    That’s a joke What Labour party? they are more interested in fighting their leader that the Tories are looking reasonable, and I never thought I would Ever say that!!!

  3. David July 22, 2016 at 11:36 am - Reply

    sorry Mike but auto correct seems to be your enemy on this: ‘publish’ I assume is ‘Punish’ and ‘removed across’ as ‘moved across’ unless that was a Freudian slip

    • Mike Sivier July 22, 2016 at 12:33 pm - Reply

      I don’t have auto-correct switched on.
      The first was probably a typo by me; the second a typo in the original report.
      It’s curious, though, because I usually catch these as I’m writing them.
      They’re corrected now, anyway.

      • Shaun July 22, 2016 at 1:54 pm - Reply

        To err is human to forgive divine. And with a little bit of thought we easily able to do as David noted.
        This is a bit simplistic but basically factual. To create an excess of supply of labour over demand the Tories, cut, cut and cut some more. For the lack of newly built houses and the apprenticeships lost the Conservatives pay out record amount of housing benefit and have to pay employers to train people for non-existent jobs. What a wasteful world is created when government and media-moguls set out to deceive.

      • Pjay Mac July 22, 2016 at 3:52 pm - Reply

        Does one not just love those self righteous Platidolopodus Scandaleering Cretinousimbibletermitehil painintherectumoculous GRAMMAR NAZIS “David is your Real name Richard Head!!!!!!!!!

        • Mike Sivier July 22, 2016 at 7:25 pm - Reply

          Hmm. Trouble is, I’m a bit particular about it myself!

        • David July 23, 2016 at 4:24 pm - Reply

          thank you Pjay abuse is always welcome, are you sure you’re not one of the 173 Blairites. I spotted a couple of errors [which aren’t common from Mike and let him know it was his decision whether to print my comment or not]. BTW I am not self righteous, you may notice that I did not discredit nor demean Mike’s work for 2 simple slips – nor did I demean him directly. I guess that makes you the self righteous one.

          • Mike Sivier July 23, 2016 at 10:58 pm

            Okay, time to head this off at the pass: May I appeal to everybody to stay civil, please?
            We attack issues here – not each other.
            That’s not to say I consider your comment to be overly offensive or abusive – I simply don’t want to see any escalation.

  4. Brian July 22, 2016 at 6:23 pm - Reply

    Just to say the obvious, the bill for welfare was never what the Tories stated, nor would the savings be. Having done a rough calc on the cumulative tax’s applied to the spending of service & goods through the ‘life’ of each benefit pound, the government receives about 80% of this back, so around 80p is returned to the government. When the day dawns & reform is complete, I feel there will be many red faces about. But of course, it was never about saving money in the first place.

  5. mrmarcpc July 25, 2016 at 1:30 pm - Reply

    This expensive white elephant has been nothing but a disaster since it’s conception, is delayed again until 2022, what a bloody shambles this has all been, bet you anything it’ll get quietly scrapped, been nothing but a embarrassment for the idiot tories but then again, what else would you expect from a bunch of idiots!

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