Labour is tomorrow (Wednesday 11 June 2018)
calling for Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, , to be sanctioned for her
handling of Universal Credit’s roll out and attempt to cover up
its ‘serious’ flaws.
Following the National Audit Office hitting out at McVey for
misrepresenting its highly critical report which called for the
reforms to be paused, faced cross-party calls for
her resignation.
Labour’s motion of censure will attempt to dock four weeks of pay
from . The Department of Work and
Pensions claims to use sanctions to ‘penalise claimants for not
meeting their responsibilities’.
MP, Labour’s Work and
Pensions Secretary, said:
“Universal Credit’s roll out has caused real hardship for many
people. It has pushed people into debt, rent arrears and forced
some to rely on foodbanks.
“ needs to get her act together,
pause the roll out and come up with a plan to address the serious
flaws in Universal Credit.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ handling of Universal
Credit
Mr
That this House censures the Secretary of State for Work and
Pension, the Rt Hon Member for Tatton, for her handling of the
roll out of Universal Credit and her response
to the NAO report, Rolling Out Universal Credit;
notes that the DWP’s own survey of claimants published on
8th June showed that 40 per cent of claimants are
experiencing financial hardship even nine months into a claim and
that 20 per cent of claimants are unable to make a claim online;
further censures the Secretary of State for not pausing the roll
out of universal credit, in the light of this evidence; and
calls on the Government to reduce her ministerial salary to
zero for four weeks.
- · Labour’s
opposition day is a ‘censure motion’. This is a little used but
well established parliamentary device that seeks to test whether
the House of Commons supports a Government Minister in the
carrying out of their responsibilities.
- · Historically the
House of Commons has called for a Government Minister’s salary to
be reduced by a nominal sum as an expression of its
dissatisfaction with the conduct of a Minister or their handling
of a particular policy. These motions have traditionally been
treated as a ‘matter of confidence’ in an individual.
- · Therefore it is
politically imperative that governments defeats such a motion to
ensure an individual can remain in post.
- · The NAO’s report
on Universal Credit revealed:
- Around one in four new Universal Credit claims - 113,000
- were not paid in full on time last year, with late payments
delayed by an average of four weeks, although some waited
five months.
- Two out of five recipients were experiencing financial
difficulties
- Increases in rent arrears since the introduction of
Universal Credit in an area, which claimants can often take
up to a year to repay, have been reported by local
authorities, housing associations and landlords.
- Some private landlords have become reluctant to rent to
Universal Credit claimants.
- In three of the four areas the NAO visited, the use of
foodbanks increased more rapidly after Universal Credit full
service was rolled out to the area.
https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/rolling-out-universal-credit/
