UC claimant ‘begging and eating out of bins’ after DWP left him with just £16 per month
The Department for Work and Pensions would hate the world to know about this, so here it is.
You can bet that new prime minister Boris Johnson couldn’t care less.
A Universal Credit claimant has been left begging for food and having to rummage through bins to feed himself after a blunder by benefit officials left him with just £16 a month to live on.
David George Strong, 54, has been left unable to work due to Epilepsy and is now having to repay a Housing Benefit overpayment debt out of his monthly Universal Credit payments, even though the error was not of his causing.
Source: Universal Credit claimant ‘begging and eating out of bins’ after DWP benefit error
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I’m on JSA and I have eaten food out of the bins. I was lucky enough to find a beautiful melon in the gutter a while ago, totally undamaged, not even bruised, no idea where it came from.
uc a big stick to beat the peasants with
This is horrific. We must hold these evil Tories to account.
I’ve been on universal credit for four years in that time I’ve had to look at my lifestyle and reduce my outgoings I’d like to add I do work . Here are a few things I have given up ….Home insurance, pet insurance I’ve got rid of my TV so no TV licence,no mobile phone, no nights out no new clothes no treats no holidays.
I have arrears with my council tax and rent and I’ve had to use food banks, which can only be used twice a year so it looks like I’ll be going hungry sometime in the next six months. I’ve been in my home for 25 years and the council thinks that moving me into a smaller property will help, I’m not prepared to move this is my home, my neighbourhood is clean and quiet and I have good neighbours I’m happy here why would I move to solve a problem that universal credit has created, and how would moving help, oh maybe £5 a week reduction on my rent. My main problem is I’m paid fortnightly and universal credit is paid monthly so three times a year when theres five weeks in the months I get 3 wages so get nothing from universal credit, this has caused my arrears with rent and council tax. I don’t know what the answer is I’ve given up thinking about it, i’m dreading the winter and not be able to afford to heat my home to a standard of comfort. I’ve always worked and I hope to continue doing so beening unemployed would destroy me, ends don’t meet anymore And after all these years of being a single parent this is the worst struggle I’ve ever had to face, food and heat is not a luxury i’m going without things I’ve never had to go without, it’s soul destroying.
I’ve been living like that for years. I have an old tv but no licence, I just never answer the door unless I’m expecting anyone, which isn’t often as I have no friends or visitors. I haven’t had an holiday for 16 years, and it must be about 6 years since I had a night out in a pub. If I need clothes it’s the charity shop. I do have a mobile phone though, but it’s rapidly becoming outdated.
Im so very sorry to hear this. I wish i had an answer to help. Im goimg through stuff myself. This is a very un fair world. Please take care.x
I hear that! I work 2 jobs, my wife is disabled and thanks to UC I’m virtually destitute… I’m trying to get driving so pulled in some overtime to cover an ill colleague and for my efforts we’ll get less money this month than if I hadn’t done the extra shifts… How is this even legal?? My wife is constantly hounded to get employed, she has arthritis in her knee so can’t stand or walk, constant spasms in her back meaning she can’t sit for extended periods and finds herself bed ridden most of the time. I get scowled at when I need to go to jcp as if I’m scum and taking from the state!? We have to pay back a tonne of “overpayments” because they can’t even do their job properly! And to top it off I am being told to look for other work as well?! We’re more than capable of living within our means for the most part but we have had to sacrifice so much for ourselves and our kids just so we can put food in their bellies! I’ve worked hard since I was legally allowed to, I was unemployed for a short time due to agency work loads not being needed and constantly looking for work during this time. Yet I see people strutting in with no problems or anything wrong with them apart from idleness, yet they can claim off the state as much as they see fit?! What ever happened to the UK being a fair country?
The UC should be scrapped all together the conservatives know fine we’ll it does not work it was designed to make the poor suffer even more I was working full time with good wages that I was not entitled to UC I damaged my spine at work and for 4 months I could hardly walk my old Dr at the time put down soft tissue damage on my medical records I tried returning to work only to be told that I was no longer needed also that Dr and other doctors refused to send me for a MRI scan and the doctors were saying nothing would show up I had a fitness for work test what was full of lies all from start to finish I got a MRI scan after 4 years all because I had a ECG and the specialist doctor could see I was struggling and he booked me in for a MRI. I still struggle to walk iam in pain 7 days a week my balance is affecting me I struggle to carry anything iam on Gabapentin even tho it does not work I’ve had one court date what got adjourned because I argued with the judge that the DWP used someone else’s medical records against my own since the court date I’ve been to Newcastle RVI they want to try a injection and if it does not work the only other thing they could do would be surgery which is risky my doctor who I have now still says iam not fit for work and signs me off. the DWP threaten me with sanctions over the phone telling me that there is nothing wrong with me and i was found fit for work my doctor is disgusted how iam being treated I’ve been fighting for just over 4 years now and I won’t give up fighting and that’s what the DWP don’t like that iam still fighting even when they asked me to drop the court case and just to look for a job I’ve said no so anybody who reads this my answer to you is don’t give up fighting the DWP iam even refusing to go in the jobcentre because iam signed off I would rather be happy and have no money than them making my life hell at the DWP forcing me into a job what I can’t do because of the damage to my spine Aswel as tears inside and all my disks have now got generative disk disease.
What the hell has happened to cause so many terrible and avoidable situations- the bloody Tories and this is the tip of the iceberg. Without a doubt UC is designed to prey on the weak and vulnerable – we are not useful to society and therefore expendable. Even the highest court in the land has said it is not legal, so God help us all now Boris is here- things can only get worse.
Thinking of everyone affected by this elitist government with love and peace.
Down with UC and the drug addicted people who try to control us .
Well maybe that’s the reason why so much knife crime has went up Aswel as other crimes because of the universal credit claiments being sanctioned and also being made homeless if they have nobody to take them in and no room in any hostels they have no choice but to sleep on the streets and the only other way to get a bed every night and free meals and warm every day with no bills to pay is commit a serious crime and be sent to jail