Universal credit: Households to miss out on benefits over festive season
The latest in the ever more desperate attempts to drum up any possible further controversy over universal credit.
It isn’t until the last segment of the article that we find out, ‘The government said the payments balance out, as claimants will receive more in the following month.’ So people aren’t actually missing out on anything, despite the scary headline and the picture of a sad woman lamenting fascist Tory policies.
I must say that “Universal Credit” was probably a good idea, but who thought that government of all people could ever run such a massive IT project? Has any government IT project ever worked?
Anyway, it’s not a “credit”, it’s a benefit. The essential lie is in the very name. Benefits were meant to be a safety net, instead they have turned into a way of life.
If you want money for Christmas the best way is to find a job and work for a living as I have done since I left school in 1974, as has my wife and three kids, none of us have ever been on benefits, my 20 year old daughter has two jobs at the moment, so I don’t buy, “there are no jobs”.
my partners had more than 10 different jobs in the past 2 years
Accounts Department
Receptionist
Secretary
Traffic Warden
Xmas Hamper Packing
Mental Health Caring
Cleaner
If you want work its there to be had
Bill, etc, it might be an idea for you to bother reading the article, that way you won’t sound so clueless in your spouting off.
”Those hit will be some of the 67,000 people who claim the benefit while working and who are paid weekly.
This is because there are five paydays in December, so their monthly income will be too high to get any or some of the benefit.”
It’s about people who ARE working but have low wages topped up by the government.
Traditionally this is done mostly via housing benefit and tax credit.
These people and there are millions of them, are being slowly moved over to Universal Credit and they then receive the top ups from UC instead.
These claimants are nominally awarded a level of Universal Credit every CALENDAR month, say £1000.
Now if they earn nothing from their job that month they get the full amount, whilst any earnings will reduce the level of benefit paid., until they are entitled to nothing.
So if the calendar month has five weekly pay days in it, many claimants will be find their earnings for that month will be too high to trigger the payments,
Maybe it balances out the following month, who knows, a simplified system it isn’t
Just out of interest Wild Bill have you and you family claimed -child tax allowance, Child Benefit etc
You have been on welfare too bro.
It is a very good idea ,because its designed to stamp out fraud .Fraud is easy when you have so many different benefits to claim and nothing gets cross checked .Its meant to give everyone a reasonable amount without the need to claim supplementary benefits.Also to make work always pay more then a life on benefits.
Unfortunately ,it has been under attack and amended by the opposition and some Tories and now bears no relation to what IDS intended. So fraud will continue and eventually welfare will again become a well paid career. Probably when Corbyn gets in .
Deb, whether it is a good idea (which I think it is) or turns out to be duff, doesn’t matter. It involves ‘benefits ‘ and ‘Tories’ and therefore provides ammunition for the progressive BBBC to shit sling. It is the reason why the ‘poor’ are constantly showcased to illustrate just how caring and sharingly right on the Beeb are and how nasty the nasty Tories are. Most of us in the real world where money has to be earned (and tax paid) laugh at the Beebs infantile efforts at faux compassion, knowing as we do that they use and abuse the less well off and the susceptible foils for their own narrative promotion and to screw the hated Tories.
Note the BBC’s plea at the foot of the article;
‘Do you claim universal credit and expect to miss out over the festive season? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your stories.’
NOT, you’ll notice, ”Do you claim UC and has it worked for you? Has it freed you from the benefit trap to allow you back into work?”
BBC shit stirrers.
There is much to be gleaned about BBC editorial integrity and realistic representation from the frequent , selective pleas to ‘DM me’ from BBC researchers on the feeds of the vocal and aggrieved.
£140 a year would come in useful for these people. I wonder if the threat of prison hanging over these vulnerable people who cannot afford it is helping their Christmas?