A Universal Credit nightmare: How Tory ‘benefit’ is failing people with terminal cancer

Last Updated: October 26, 2018By Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Remember all the stories a few years ago that the Tories were using the benefit system to shift poor people from desirable areas?

It seems that policy is still in action:

A man forced to give up his job after being diagnosed with brain cancer was unable to keep paying his rent with Universal Credit payments but was told ‘it’s your fault for living in London’.

Former bar manager Neil MacVicar was just 25 when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016.

The devastating news meant he became too ill to work and had to leave his home in Islington, north London, and temporarily move back in with his family in Inverness, Scotland, while he went through treatment.

After his treatment and still unable to work, Neil applied for Universal Credit (UC) to provide him with the vital financial support he had lost with his diagnosis.

Hoping to get his life back on track, Neil moved back to Islington, but said the £780 he was paid on UC went towards his £750 rent and bills – leaving him just £30 a month to live off.

He submitted his tenancy agreement to make a claim for an increase in payments to the Department for Work and Pensions, but says he was told by those handling his claim that the struggle to keep up with rent was ‘your fault for living in Islington’.

Source: How universal credit is failing people with terminal cancer | Metro News

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One Comment

  1. SteveH October 27, 2018 at 12:38 am - Reply

    PCS Union wins £3 million compensation from the DWP

    The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has won a major victory over the government. The High Court has ruled that ministers acted illegally by withdrawing check-off, the decades-old practice of collecting members’ union subscriptions directly from their pay packet.

    https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2018/10/26/public-and-commercial-services-union-wins-3-million-compensation-from-the-department-for-work-and-pensions/

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