Universal credit

[mayo31]

I am going to give it until 10am before anyone supporting this will be up. They having a lie in right now whilst the butler irons the paper.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The worrying thing is that the trial demonstrated the problems arising out of significant delays in providing payments leading to rent arrears, homelessness etc - the statistics were damning yet they still rolled it out nationally.

Have you read 'The Blunders of our Governments'? It's about government projects and how/why they almost invariably go wrong (regardless of who's in power). The most shocking piece is about tax credits, where HMRC, a department used to collecting money, suddenly had to become a department that paid it out. They cocked up completely and it was mainly because it was a vanity project for Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, who wanted to be seen as a 'giving' minister. One of the problems is that no one would ever disagree with Brown (or any forceful minister, whatever the party) as dissenting voices tend to be removed or sidelined. It really is a case of "Yes Minister" in the Civil Service. And ministers really don't give a shit as they know they generally won't be there to clean up the mess in a few years.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept of universal credit but when neo-liberal organs like The Economist start slagging its introduction off then you know something's badly wrong.

 

[Vic]

Sky running a piece asking if its the new Poll Tax row for the Tories?

Lets fucking hope so.

Utter disgrace.

I hope it's worse than that. The poll tax did for Thatcher, not for the Tories. Major abolished it, took credit for that and got re-elected (on a platform of "We abolished the poll tax"), and left us with Council Tax that still saves the landed gentry millions compared to the domestic rates they used to pay on each of their houses.

The poll tax affected everyone, UC doesn't, so I doubt we'd get to actual riots. I hate to say it, but violent resistance works.

"How little," said they, "the thoughtless poor
Can know what the suffering rich endure",
In bringing up dozens of small Grandees,
In paying off horrible mortgagees
To say nothing of assignees, lessees,
And an endless quantity more of these
Uneasy things that end in ees. ​

(From the Westminster Review, 1/4/1834, "The Suffering Rich". Thank you, the Working Class Movement Library in Salford.)

 

[Tanzeylee]

In principle UC seems like a good idea, all benefits under one umbrella cutting red tape and the like but it’s implementation is a bit of a cluster fuck

 

[stonerblue]

https://www.newstatesman.com/politi...ager-my-job-turning-away-those-abject-poverty

 

[Alan Harper's Tash]

Payment in arrears was always going to cause massive financial hardship to claimants. That's even before the delay in processing claims.

In principle, having one benefit covering all bases is a good idea, but the computer system created has never worked. Staff training is also basic and as quick as possible as they need to get everyone on the phones to answer calls to make their centre's figures look good.

They're offering an emergency payment to tide people over, but the problem with that is that they set repayments up straight away, so even when they get their first proper payment, they won't have enough money to survive.

That's not even taking into account the people with mental impairments who won't have a clue what is going on or what to do.

They're also putting benefit fraud teams outside of food banks to monitor claimants and stop benefits if they are seen walking further than they said they could. (I guess most of us would put in a superhuman effort to get some food to survive)

 

[cyberblue]

One of the ministers supporting this claims £50 a month for his bath water

 

[vonkeynotvenky]

The Tories haven't thought this through and if they're not careful it will bring them down, it's time for a new party by the looks of it.

 

[Blue Hefner]

Have you read 'The Blunders of our Governments'? It's about government projects and how/why they almost invariably go wrong (regardless of who's in power). The most shocking piece is about tax credits, where HMRC, a department used to collecting money, suddenly had to become a department that paid it out. They cocked up completely and it was mainly because it was a vanity project for Gordon Brown, then Chancellor, who wanted to be seen as a 'giving' minister. One of the problems is that no one would ever disagree with Brown (or any forceful minister, whatever the party) as dissenting voices tend to be removed or sidelined. It really is a case of "Yes Minister" in the Civil Service. And ministers really don't give a shit as they know they generally won't be there to clean up the mess in a few years.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept of universal credit but when neo-liberal organs like The Economist start slagging its introduction off then you know something's badly wrong.

I started it and keep meaning to pick it back up. I thought the definition of a 'blunder' was interesting

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

ive just had to go on this. i had to leave my last job recently due to health reasons. the process itself isn't actually bad and you do get support. the issue is the 7 week wait time i have, its a nightmare. you can get it earlier, but i think you have to pay it back. your basically screwd if you've got no money