Frank Field responds to Universal Credit statement

Commenting on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement to the House of Commons on Universal Credit, Frank Field MP said:

‘Rather than that banal offering which did nothing for our poorest constituents, a more realistic statement from the Secretary of State would have acknowledged and sought to rectify the following points: Universal Credit is helping to transform the welfare state from one which protects people from poverty, to one that drives them into destitution; vulnerable people face all sorts of difficulties in trying to make and manage a claim online; mega sums of money are being clawed back from people’s monthly payments to cover historic debts, leaving them short of money for food, rent and utilities; parents have to struggle through a brutal process and rack up debts to obtain the crucial childcare payments they need to stay in work; and total chaos is unleashed on family budgets by a process of calculating monthly payments that is totally alien to working-class lives.’