DWP considers scrapping Universal Credit’s ‘agonising’ five-week wait
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is considering axing the five-week wait for Universal Credit, a move that could significantly benefit claimants. This week, benefit claimants expressed their frustration to the BBC over the lengthy wait for payments from the government department.
A survey conducted by the TUC revealed that over two-thirds (71%) of those claiming Universal Credit found the five-week wait problematic. Only one in five said they could just about manage, while a mere one in ten claimed they could cope.
One full-time carer, parent to two autistic teenagers, has been receiving income support along with child benefit, carers allowance and child tax credits. However, these benefits are being phased out by the DWP as part of a “managed migration” to UC, reports BirminghamLive.
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He stated: “I now have an extra almost £800 of debt that I didn’t have prior to hitting enter to start my claim. I don’t understand the need to push everybody across.
“There’s always that worry that something is missed and you don’t get what you’re supposed to be getting. Citizens’ Advice Scotland is now calling for the wait for universal credit to be scrapped and warned that repaying money from advance loans is leaving people in.”
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Citizens’ Advice Scotland is now urging for the wait for universal credit to be abolished, warning that repaying money from advance loans is causing “very real hardship”. Policy officer Erica Young stated: “We would like to see the complete abolition of the five-week wait.”
“We don’t think it reflects real life and it’s a completely new feature of the benefit system. Not in the history of it has there ever been anything like this. All other benefits have been paid weekly or fortnightly.
“Given the level of universal credit, which is already not adequate to meet people’s very basic needs, the situation can be quite dramatic for people trying to work their way around that budget,” she said. “But most people don’t have a choice but to take an advanced loan.
“The other alternative route that we could go down to resolve this problem would be to convert the five-week wait loan into a grant so that people don’t have to pay that back.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “Vulnerable people in need of urgent financial support can apply for an advance of their entitlement when moving over to universal credit.
“We are committed to reviewing universal credit so it tackles poverty and makes work pay.”
