A YOUNG family has been forced to rely on their parents for cash to put food on the table after a five-week wait for Universal Credit plunged them into debt.
Rebecca Aldous struggles to feed her family of three because £90 a month is deducted from her benefits to pay back an advance loan she took out to tie them over during the waiting period.
The mum-of-one lives with her chef partner Dafydd and their toddler.
Speaking to the BBC’s Panorama programme, Rebecca said: “[When we moved in here] we needed everything. The only thing we had was a bed and a cot, that was literally it.
“So I reached out to Universal Credit and I was like, well, I’m going to have to get a loan out.”
An advance payment is offered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to get hard-up Brits through the five-week wait for income.
IF you’re experiencing trouble applying for your Universal Credit, or the payments just don’t cover costs, here are your options:
Apply for an advance – Claimants are able to get some cash within five days rather than waiting weeks for their first payment. But it’s a loan which means the repayments will be automatically deducted from your future Universal Credit pay out.
Alternative Payment Arrangements– If you’re falling behind on rent, you or your landlord may be able to apply for an APA which will get your payment sent directly to your landlord. You might also be able to change your payments to get them more frequently, or you can split the payments if you’re part of a couple.
Budgeting Advance – You may be able to get help from the government to help with emergency household costs of up to £348 if you’re single, £464 if you’re part of a couple or £812 if you have children. These are only in cases like your cooker breaking down or for help getting a job. You’ll have to repay the advance through your regular Universal Credit payments. You’ll still have to repay the loan, even if you stop claiming for Universal Credit.
Cut your Council Tax – You might be able to get a discount on your Council Tax or be entitled to Discretionary Housing Payments if your payments aren’t enough to cover your rent.
Foodbanks – If you’re really hard up and struggling to buy food and toiletries, you can find your local foodbank who will provide you with help for free. You can find your nearest one on the Trussel Trust website.
Advance loans can be up to the same amount as one month’s benefits but the problem is they have to be paid back over 12 months.
To do this, a specified amount is automatically deducted from recipients’ benefits, starting with the first payment.
Deductions to repay other debts, such as rent arrears, can also automatically be taken.
The Sun has been calling on the government to reduce the five-week wait to two weeks via its Make Universal Credit Work campaign.
Panorama first visited Flintshire in north Wales, where Rebecca lives, last year to find out how claimants were getting on after it was was one of the first to test out the new system.
Tonight’s episode of Panorama returns to the town to find many vulnerable residents still struggling to make ends meet.
Rebecca and her family moved into a council flat in north Wales in February last year, but Dafydd’s job working irregular hours isn’t enough to support the family so they depend on their benefit payments.
But the couple say the deductions mean they don’t have enough at the end of the month and are forced to rely on Rebecca’s father and step-mum to help them pay the bills.
The DWP has capped the amount that can be deducted from a payment to 30 per cent of the standard element of the benefit, down from 40 per cent in October this year, but experts say it’s not enough.
UNIVERSAL Credit replaces six benefits with a single monthly payment.
One million people are already receiving it and by the time the system is fully rolled out in 2023, nearly 7 million will be on it.
But there are big problems with the flagship new system – it takes 5 weeks to get the first payment and it could leave some families worse off by thousands of pounds a year.
And while working families can claim back up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, they must find the money to pay for childcare upfront – we’ve heard of families waiting up to 6 months for the money.
Working parents across the country told us they’ve been unable to take on more hours – or have even turned down better paid jobs or more hours because of the amount they get their benefits cut.
It’s time to Make Universal Credit work. We want the government to:
Together, these changes will help Make Universal Credit Work.
Join our Universal Credit Facebook group or email UniversalCredit@the-sun.co.uk to share your story.
Helen Barnard, from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, told the BBC that the current system puts people into debt “right at the beginning of their claim”.
“The DWP doesn’t have any standard affordability assessment,” explained Helen, “so any other financial institution you go through some kind of set of questions to establish what’s your income, what are your outgoings, what can you afford.
“But that doesn’t happen.”
Universal Credit rolls six benefits payments into one – child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance and working tax credit.
Claimants who are struggling with the repayments can contact the DWP to ask for deductions to be lowered but Helen argues that assumes people on the system understands how it works.
The Sun has contacted the DWP for comment.
Panorama: Universal Credit – One Year On with Catrin Nye airs on BBC One at 7.30pm, on Monday December 9.
