MP, Leader, will today (Saturday)
announce that Labour will scrap Universal Credit, calling the
flagship Tory welfare reform “inhumane” and an “unmitigated
disaster”.
Speaking at a rally in Chingford and Woodford Green, the seat
currently held by MP – the architect of
Universal Credit – the Labour Leader will set out Labour’s plans
to replace Universal Credit with a social security system that
focuses on “alleviating and ending poverty, not driving people
into it”.
In government, Labour will immediately end the worst aspects of
Universal Credit, including:
- · Ending the benefit
cap and the two child limit, which alone will lift up to 300,000
children out of poverty;
- · Immediately
suspending the punitive sanctions regime, which has been
ineffective at supporting people back to work and has instead
pushed people into poverty and reliance on foodbanks;
- · Ending Universal
Credit’s “digital only” requirement, which excludes people
who cannot access the internet or are not computer literate, and
recruiting 5000 additional advisors to deliver this change;
- · Switching to split
payments and fortnightly payments, including an automatic interim
payment to end the five week wait.
As well as scrapping Universal Credit, Labour will replace the
Department for Work and Pensions with a Department for Social
Security, marking a radical shift from a system that “punishes
and polices” people to one where social security will support
people in finding work and treat them with “dignity and
respect”.
Criticising Universal Credit, is expected to
say:
“Universal Credit has been an unmitigated disaster. As well as
being behind schedule and over budget it is inhumane and cruel,
driving people into poverty and hardship.
“Social security is supposed to give people dignity and respect,
not punish and police them, make them wait five weeks for the
first payment or fill out a four-page form to prove their child
was born as a result of rape.
“The Universal Credit system sums up the priorities of the
Conservatives – who think they're born to rule. A government of
the wealthy cutting taxes for the super-rich while forcing people
to rely on foodbanks to survive.
“The Tories told us that Universal Credit would make work pay,
but we have seen the opposite. More and more people who are
falling into poverty have jobs, and more and more children who
are growing up in poverty are living in working
families.”
Announcing that a Labour government will scrap Universal
Credit, is expected to
say:
“It’s time to end this cruelty. So today I can tell you that
Labour will scrap Universal Credit. And we will replace the
Department for Work and Pensions with a Department for Social
Security – this will provide real security.
“When a Labour government takes office we will introduce an
emergency package of reforms to end the worst aspects of
Universal Credit.
“And we will introduce a new system that will be based on the
principles of dignity and respect and it will alleviate and end
poverty, not drive people into it.
“We will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty by
scrapping the two child limit and benefit cap. The pernicious
five week wait which causes so much misery and suffering will go.
We will suspend the Tories’ pernicious sanctions regime,
introduce fortnightly payments, make payments directly to
landlords and protect women by making split payments by
default, and never again will any woman
have to fill in a four page form to prove her child was born as a
result of rape.”
, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:
"Universal Credit was meant to lift people out of poverty,
simplify the social security system and smooth the transition
into work.
"Instead it is failing those in need, pushing many into debt and
rent arrears and forcing them to rely on food banks to survive.
"The two-child limit and the benefit cap are driving up child
poverty, and the callous sanctions regime is punishing
people instead of supporting them.
"Labour will scrap Universal Credit, put an end to the benefit
cap and create a social security system that, just like our NHS,
treats people with dignity and respect and is there for any one
of us in our time of need.”
Ends
Notes to Editors:
The next Labour government will introduce an emergency package of
reforms to end the worst aspects of Universal Credit and rescue
our failing social security system whilst we develop our
replacement system. That package will:
- Reduce the five-week waiting period by introducing an interim
payment after two weeks;
- Scrap the two-child limit;
- Scrap the benefit cap;
- Immediately suspend sanctions and the claimant agreement;
- Make split payments, payments direct to landlords and
fortnightly payments the default;
- Officially end the “digital only” approach by recruiting 5000
new social security advisers.
In addition to this, Labour has already committed to:
- Ending the out-sourcing of Work Capability Assessments and
bringing them back in-house;
- Scrapping the bedroom tax;
- Increasing ESA by £30 per week for those in the work-related
activity group;
- Uprating Carers’ Allowance to the level of Job Seekers’
Allowance.
Labour will change the culture of the Department for Work and
Pensions so that it treats people with dignity and respect and
supports them in finding work and accessing the benefits they are
entitled to, instead of punishing and policing people.
On day one Labour will replace the Department for Work and
Pensions with a Department for Social Security. Labour will scrap
Universal Credit and develop a new social security system built
on the following three principles:
- Dignity – social security is there to help and support people
and the best way to do that is by treating people with respect
and dignity, building trust and giving them agency over their
lives;
- Universalism – our social security system is there for all of
us and we may all rely on it as some point in our lives. By
seeking to bring back a universal element we will end
stigmatisation and encourage social security to be held in the
same esteem as universal services like our health and education
systems;
- Ending poverty – our social security system should reduce
poverty, not create it, make it worse and drive people into it.
Five-week waiting period
Labour will end the five-week waiting period as part of an
emergency package of reforms to end the worst aspects of
Universal Credit.
Labour will seek to permanently reduce the assessment period to
one week so that claimants will receive their first payment after
around 10 days of making their claim. However, because this will
require a rebuild of the DWP system, it may take time.
In the meantime, Labour will introduce an interim payment, based
on half an estimated monthly entitlement, to be paid after two
weeks of making a claim, with the balance paid at the end of a
month
The two-child limit
Labour will scrap the two-child limit because it is a cruel
policy that punishes children.
The benefit cap
The benefit cap is a cruel policy that overwhelmingly punishes
children and single parents with young children. Labour will
scrap the benefit cap so that the amount claimants receive is not
arbitrarily reduced below the level the DWP itself deems they
need.
- According to DWP data, 85 per cent (114,337) of the 134,044
households affected by the benefit cap are single mothers
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/04/benefit-cap-single-mothers-make-up-85percent-of-those-affected-data-shows
- The Tories pressed ahead with the despite an internal
government assessment warning it would force tens of thousands of
children into poverty
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/29/household-benefit-cap-plunge-40000-kids-poverty-memo
The punitive sanctions regime
The Tories’ punitive sanctions regime has eroded trust in the
social security system and denied millions of people of their
right to support. Evidence shows that sanctions are ineffective
at helping people back work and instead push people into
destitution and disengagement from the process.
The current conditionality and sanctions regime means that DWP
staff do not have sufficient time to provide the
high quality employment support that many claimants would
benefit from. This arrangement also creates a climate of mistrust
because the very person who is meant to be ensuring benefits are
paid and supporting claimants back to work is also being required
to police the claimant's job search activities and to recommend
when sanctions should be applied.
The next Labour government will immediately suspend sanctions and
replace the “Claimant Commitment,” which people must currently
sign at the beginning of making a claim, with a reciprocal
agreement between the Department for Social Security and the
claimant.
The emphasis in this new system will be on tailored support –
delivered by a work coach – and reciprocity rather than rigid
requirements and punishments when they are not met. The claimant
will agree to search for suitable work and undertake training
opportunities where appropriate; the claimant’s work coach will
agree to help identify suitable employment and training
opportunities and support claimants in taking them up.
Make split payments, payments direct to landlords and two
weekly payments the default
Universal Credit makes one payment to a household on a monthly
basis. The Work and Pensions Committee has warned that single
household payments of Universal Credit could put claimants living
in an abusive relationship at risk of harm. Labour will make
split payments the default and make sure that the child element
is paid to the primary carer.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news-parliament-2017/universal-credit-domestic-abuse-report-publication-17-19/
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmworpen/576/576vw69.htm#footnote_2
The government claimed that monthly payments would be more
reflective of the world of work, but this is not the case for
many low-paid workers who do not receive a monthly wage. People
on low incomes struggle to manage their living costs on a monthly
basis.
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/10/Universal-Credit.pdf
The government has failed to offer direct payments to landlords
other than in very limited circumstances. The Resolution
Foundation has recommended allowing tenants the freedom to choose
direct payment of housing support to landlords.
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2017/10/Universal
Credit.pdf
Labour will make fortnightly payments and the housing element
paid directly to landlords the default. Implementing this policy
will require a one-off administrative change.
Scotland already offers claimants the option of a two weekly
payment and housing payment direct to landlords and these options
have seen substantial take-up.
- The share of households in Scotland opting for fortnightly
payments has increased steadily since the option was introduced
in Autumn 2017
End the “digital only” approach
The government’s intention for Universal Credit to be
a “digital-only” platform has failed. Labour will scrap the
“digital only” fiction and acknowledge the reality that claimants
need support if our social security system is to work and recruit
5000 additional advisors to deliver this change.
