Blog: Five weeks is too long

It’s important to remember – when our government so often claims that there isn’t enough money to provide decent public services – that we live in the sixth richest country in the world. Yet under that same government, a million people are reliant on foodbanks. That’s a national disgrace. In the 12 months to 31 March 2018 the Trussell Trust’s foodbank network distributed 1,332,952 three day emergency food supplies to people in crisis – a massive 13% increase on the previous year. To put that into perspective, that’s equivalent to a food parcel for every single UNISON member. Of course austerity is a root cause of this – which is why our union has spent a decade opposing it – but another factor is the five week wait for Universal Credit. Everyone who applies for Universal Credit has to wait at least five weeks for their first payment – with no exceptions. Official figures show that 9 out every 100 still get nothing after 5 weeks and that 14 out of every 100 claims are not paid the full amount on time. That means that in the 12 months to November 2018 138,000 people went on to Universal Credit and did not receive a penny five weeks after they claimed. It also means that 232,000 people didn’t get the full amount of Universal Credit, five weeks after making their claim. That’s leaving many people without enough money to cover the basics, forcing them to rely on food banks and other forms of emergency support. This is an utterly inhumane and indefens...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News food banks Universal credit Source Type: news