GOING DOWN Universal credit changes explained: How the Mini-budget announcement affects you | A BIG change to Universal Credit has been confirmed with 120,000 on benefits set to be affected
GOING DOWN Universal credit changes explained: How the Mini-budget announcement affects you | A BIG change to Universal Credit has been confirmed with 120,000 on benefits set to be affected
17 comments
Ad free version:
The shake-up was confirmed by by Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in today’s Mini Budget.
They face tougher rules if they don’t work enough hours.
It comes as the Chancellor announced:
A beer price rise has been cancelled
National Insurance rise scrapped saving up to £330 a year
Income tax cut from next April saving average £124 a year
Stamp duty cut for home movers and first-time buyers
People on Universal Credit working the equivalent of 12 hours or less are expected to meet regularly with a work coach and take “active steps” to boost their pay.
But that will rise to 15 hours a week at the National Living Wage.
The change is expected to bring around 120,000 more people into the intensive work search regime.
Universal Credit is based on how much you earn rather than the hours you work.
But the minimum wage for those aged over 25 – currently £9.50 – is used to calculate the equivalent hours worked.
Working fewer than these hours a week, means you’re expected to go to the job centre and meet with work coaches to increase your earnings.
Meanwhile, claimants aged over 50 will also get extra support from work coaches, while the newly unemployed will receive nine months of targeted sessions.
The measures come as the government tries to boost the economy.
The Bank of England yesterday warned that the country is already likely to be in recession.
**What does the change mean for me?**
Exactly how you’re affected will depend in you claimant commitment.
This is a document where you agree to certain terms when making a claim for Universal Credit.
The exact terms of looking for work or increasing hours depends on your circumstances and is detailed in your claimant commitment.
For instance those looking after children or with caring responsibilities are not expected to have to work, or look for work, for as many hours.
If you do need to follow new rules you should be told about it by your work coach or through your Universal Credit account.
**What happens if I ignore the new rules?**
If you don’t follow the new rules then your payments could be affected.
Payments can be cut or stopped altogether for failing to turn up to meetings.
If you repeatedly miss meetings the sanctions may be stricter and last longer.
Sanctions are when claimants can lose some or all of their benefits if they don’t follow the rules set out in their claimants commitment, but the most severe consequences are for repeat offenders.
Payments can be slashed for a number of reasons, like turning down a job offer or failing to update information like moving house or how many hours you work.
Here we list five mistakes that could see your Universal Credit payments stopped and tell you how to challenge a sanction.
Whilst this is obviously good news on the surface, I do wonder if some of the claimants might not like it so much?
Lovely when the going gets tough punch down on everyone, they’re not even earning enough to cover the cost of living crisis, so lets turn the screws and make them suffer more. Meanwhile, this government doesn’t even support them getting pay rises. I’ve never seen anything so “fuck the poor”, at least past Tory governments could hide it.
Having been on Universal Credit before, I can say it already has too many meetings. The worst thing is people who have to travel to the job centre via taxi (where public transport is non existent), train or bus are just going to end up in even more financial trouble. More meetings doesn’t mean more support to help you get into a job, it just means more hassle. In my experience it very much depends on the work coach you get as it is. As a disabled person I can say for me a few of them have just been out of their depth. I am hearing impaired and they would say things like why not work in a call centre? Well because I cannot hear so why would I be able to do that?
It doesn’t make more jobs or more hours available. It will just add to the strain of the job for the work coaches as well, who are already overworked.
You can tell this is a measure done by people who have no idea what universal credit is like in practice or what working for the DWP is like.
Yes this is good, the issue is we have an entire generation of people who frankly have grown up relying on a support net of free money from the government.
There are plenty of jobs out there. More jobs than there are people looking for work, this there are not jobs arguement is complete bullshit.
I’ve worked loads of dogshit low paid jobs to get where i am today, there is work it’s if your willing to take on work that’s the issue.
To many people leaving school with fuck all qualifications and frankly no work ethic.. just sign on then get trapped in a cycle of relying on government handouts as a future. The govenment is not responsible for your living standards! You have no entitlement to free money… if you want a better life graft for it!. People complaining about having to go to extra meetings… for free money that’s the crux of the issue here and is exactly why we are in this mess in the first place.
So those people who genuinely need help the severely disabled etc. Cannot get living wage help because the government is supporting such large segment of the population with free cash. Rather than targetting it to those who genuinely need it!.
It’s not nice to hear and people wont like it… but it’s true whether you like it or not. 🤷♂️
[deleted]
I’m in the middle of being transferred from old school ESA to UC due to moving from the old school 15.59hrs and min wage earning cap to three days a week at a little bit more. 8 weeks after I started, with no benefits during this time (my rent and council tax have at least been frozen until the transition is resolved) I have been informed today how much I will receive (in a further three weeks time). The total leaves me approximately £500pm worse off without taking into account council tax (I have no idea where I stand with the that right now). Communication through the journal system usually has a within 30min response, since I stated the difference in the numbers I haven’t heard anything in the last 5 hours. I hope they respond before the weekend.
I’m BPD, I’ve been in the system a loooong time, I know how it works, I know I have to fight but I’m very tired of it all right now. Things have been good, I’m getting better, I’m functioning, I have a job I love where I’m appreciated and I’m damn good at it. Truth is full time is on the horizon and I’m ready to take it but I still have the last stretch to go and now I have this. I know they would prefer it if I just give up and stop annoying them with my existence and to be honest, right now, it’s tempting. I fucking won’t though. One last fight with the DWP… I really hope this is the last one.
Is there any legal way to get rid of the tories and have another general election? I can’t wait till the next general one because the tories will probably make it illegal.
those on benefits shoud f work not wait for free money from government. go and do something don’t sit on your ass and wait for even more free cash.
The thing is, often on a zero hours contract it’s difficult to do more hours because the employer sets the hours which vary week by week. And then the unpredictability of the work can mean the employee finds it difficult to look for an additional job because their available hours are changeable.
I work zero hours contract, and my hours change all the time. I go into people’s homes, and when people are ill, or have appointments etc, they cancel my visit – but it just leaves a gap in my rota that is not easily filled on short notice.
Tories reverting to type: naive ignorance wrapped up in cruel arrogance.
We need that general election.
People will die this winter because of this government.
This is cruelty in economic form. Nothing short of evil.
Hard to feel sorry for the people who voted labour and are working class. Save your tears. 3 cycles of Tory governance didn’t change your mind so don’t come complaining now. Hold your L.
Every single low income employee should walk out of work it’s that simple. There would be nothing open no tesco morrisons asda nothing nearly everyone working these jobs who everyone else needs is on universal credit.. our Government are Disgusting Vile people.. about one quarter of MPs in every party are Landlords and rent keeps going up. These are people that are supposed to Work for us and all they do is Rob from us.. and we all let it happen over and over again..
You know if they want the poor to die they should just say that and drop the pretense.
From what I hear the DWP workload is massive, fraught with delays.
Forcing people into more meetings will exacerbate this and ultimately not help, from what I gather most of them are just box ticking exercises anyway. “Did you apply for jobs? Yes? Good. ✔️ Meeting over.”
It trickle down policy lady’s and gents, give more to the rich so they can throw some coppers on the floor for the poor to fight over ….can’t make this shit up….and they got payed to come up with this policy !!!!