{"id":24197,"date":"2018-11-02T14:56:58","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T14:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=24197"},"modified":"2018-11-02T14:56:58","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T14:56:58","slug":"the-launch-of-universal-credit-for-grenfell-survivors-faces-heavy-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/the-launch-of-universal-credit-for-grenfell-survivors-faces-heavy-criticism\/","title":{"rendered":"The launch of universal credit for Grenfell survivors faces heavy criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p3\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">The implementation of universal credit in the North Kensington area has been met with a large amount of criticism.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The horrifying result of the failure of governments at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GrenfellTower?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GrenfellTower<\/a> constantly haunt me, as does the stories of failure of Universal Credit. The roll out of universal credit must end, &amp; under no circumstances forced on the communities of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Grenfell?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Grenfell<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5Zpz4WLzdy\">https:\/\/t.co\/5Zpz4WLzdy<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Amelia Womack (@Amelia_Womack) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Amelia_Womack\/status\/1058016105015533568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 1, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This isn\u2019t \u2018sneaky\u2019 Budget day announcement, or bad planning. To hit Grenfell survivors &amp; the wider community with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UniversalCredit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UniversalCredit<\/a> now is just wrong.  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DbQxnABIlS\">https:\/\/t.co\/DbQxnABIlS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ukhousing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ukhousing<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/grenfell?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#grenfell<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Michael Chandler (@mlchandler01) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mlchandler01\/status\/1057549154472345600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Most people affected by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Grenfell?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Grenfell<\/a> disaster are still displaced in emergency\/temp accommodation, trying to piece together their lives again. Moving them onto <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UniversalCredit?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UniversalCredit<\/a> now, knowing how broken it is, would just create more problems for them! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ca8iv5jTf9\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ca8iv5jTf9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Law Centres Network (@LawCentres) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LawCentres\/status\/1057562515922661376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 31, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A new updated version of the\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">Welfare Reform Act 2012 was<\/span>\u00a0published by the\u00a0<span class=\"s1\">Department for Work and Pensions<\/span>\u00a0(DWP) on the day of the Budget on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The regulations stated that &#8220;the roll-out of Universal Credit full service in postcode areas administered by North Kensington Jobcentre will now take place from 12 December 2018&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The Grenfell neighbourhood is included in the area.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Emma Dent Coad, Kensington MP, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/grenfell-universal-credit-christmas_uk_5bd89e7fe4b07427610c2202\">told<\/a> HuffPost UK that she was \u201cdreading\u201d the impact and the DWP should \u201chave a bit of a heart\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cI don\u2019t think anybody should be put on this failed system but particularly anyone affected by Grenfell.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Frank Field, the chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee in the Commons, urged for a further halt to the roll-out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">He asked: \u201cIs this really the most appropriate time for the DWP to subject people in such vulnerable positions to the full force of universal credit?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Universal credit is the flagship reform of the benefits system. It is a benefit for working-age people, replacing six separate income-related benefits (including income support, housing benefits and working tax credit) and merging them into one single payment every month in order to make claiming benefits easier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">It can be claimed no matter if people are in or out of work, but the payment gradually decreases as you earn more in work, which acts as a way to incentivise people to work instead of staying on benefits. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">As of<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-41487126\">\u00a0August 2018<\/a>, 1.1 million people in the country had been signed up for universal credit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">However, in practice, the reform has been proven to be controversial. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">It usually takes at least six weeks to receive the first payment, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/education-44468437\">20%<\/a> of new claimants waited for almost five months, and about 8% waited for eight months. As claimants have to pay costs such as rent out of their universal credit payments, it could lead to rent arrears and it is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2017\/dec\/24\/landlords-unwilling-to-rent-to-universal-credit-recipients\">said<\/a> that many landlords are \u201cunwilling\u201d to rent to universal credit claimants.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Food bank use has also increased in areas where universal credit was implemented. According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b2cd2bb0-c7e2-11e8-ba8f-ee390057b8c9\">Financial Times<\/a>, demand for help from the Trussell Trust\u2019s food banks increased by 52% after a year in areas where universal credit had been fully introduced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\"><span class=\"s1\">Research has shown that universal credit could have harmful impact on different communities, as well. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/society\/2017\/mar\/01\/universal-credit-hits-families-with-children-hardest-study-finds\">Some families with children<\/a> would be left with thousands of pounds worse off a year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-politics-19966370\">up to half a million disabled people and their families<\/a> could lose up to \u00a358 a week,\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/money\/universal-credit-800000-self-employed-brits-5844014\">self-employed workers<\/a> could lose out on more money than those who work in a steady job.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Words: Leyi Chen | Subbing:\u00a0Fiona Patterson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The implementation of universal credit in the North Kensington area has been met with a large amount of criticism. The horrifying result of the failure of governments at #GrenfellTower constantly haunt me, as does the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":24200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,134],"tags":[2767,6593],"class_list":["post-24197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uknews","tag-grenfell","tag-universal-credit"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}