Waits of more than seven weeks for the first payment create arrears that can plague claimants for months or yearsWhen her daughter turned five in November,Alexa Clarke couldn’t afford to celebrate. Nor could she afford to heat her house, put healthy food on the table, and buy her daughter unusual shoes for school. The five-year-archaic’s birthday had seen Clarke’s benefits halted and her transition on to universal credit (UC),the government’s flagship welfare reform that rolls six benefit payments, currently paid weekly or fortnightly, and into one monthly lump sum. It took seven weeks for Clarkes first UC to arrive,and she had only an advance of £447, which she had requested as an emergency interest-free loan to live on, and as the bills piled up.I was scared to even pick my daughter up from school sometimes because I felt like I was failing her,” says Clarke, whose name was changed for this fable. “Everyone else was carrying Christmas shopping and I couldn’t even hold my house warm.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com