With the tsunami of new claimants triggered by the coronavirus crisis, should we expect a different demographic to be moving onto Universal Credit? And with this surge, how best to ensure people are able to navigate a system infamous for its flaws and complexities? In this Special Report, we examine the effect coronavirus has had on UC and how the new claimants can be best supported.
In the fortnight following the UK Government announcing the coronavirus lockdown on the 23rd March, around 100,000 new Universal Credit claims were made each day. The staggering figure dwarfs anything seen in modern history, and will mean another 1.5 million people have to get used to the intricacies of the system, fast, or face some of its more draconian sanctions. To compound the situation, 500,000 of those new claimants took the option of receiving an Advance Payment, meaning their future payments will be reduced and their budgets further squeezed.
Sudden Change
As has come to be expected during such a fast moving situation, where so much that seemed immovable has suddenly shifted, opposition parties and charities are scrambling to lobby the government to make changes to the way Universal Credit works. The worst aspects of UC, the five week wait for first payment, the two child limit, have come under increased scrutiny as Universal Credit has been thrust into the bright glare of coronavirus. A joint letter to The Guardian from 50 anti-poverty campaigners, including the Bishop of Durham, Oxfam, the Child Poverty Action Group and Christian, Muslim and Jewish groups, has demanded a change to the two-child limit, while the iron is hot.
The letter says: “Families newly affected by the two-child limit are being left with too little to meet their needs in circumstances entirely beyond their control. That is not right. The policy should be lifted before struggle turns to real hardship for the many affected families…Even in normal times, no parent can be sure that their financial security will withstand unpredictable events such as illness, bereavement or redundancy. Certainly no parent could have had foresight of Covid-19 and so planned their family size accordingly.”
Guiding Light
As many of us working in the sector have long understood, navigating UC for the first time as a new claimant is extremely challenging. Some years ago, Quids in! produced a Universal Credit guide to assist with the process, with the key information on what to expect and how to avoid the most common pitfalls. Now on its 10th edition, over 300,000 copies of the guide have already been sold as a 32-page magazine. The guide continues to be in high demand both from our partner organisations and individuals. But whereas, traditionally, the fair assumption was that people accessing the UC guide were drawn from a demographic who might previously have claimed other benefits and been part of the migration onto UC, coronavirus has blown such assumptions apart.
While hard data is still scarce on the socio-economic backgrounds of the new UC ‘pandemic claimants’, some basic assumptions can be drawn. While around 30% of the new claimants have taken out the option of the Advance Payment to cover the five week wait, this is much lower than the usual 60% of claimants who take up the option. This is suggestive that a larger proportion than usual has some form of financial safety net to carry them through, in turn suggesting a new demographic are moving onto the benefit.
New World, New Guide
Quids in! editor, Jeff Mitchell said: “The government tells us coronavirus is a ‘great leveller’. Well, it has certainly levelled over a million people forced onto benefits as their work dried up when the country locked down. That throw away statistic that many of us are just one pay cheque away from disaster suddenly rings true.”
To address this, Clean Slate (which now incorporates Quids in!) have produced a new UC guide, specifically designed to aid this new group through the process of moving onto UC. The Corona-Finance edition of the Guide focuses around living on less and accessing help that people who are new to the welfare system may be unaware of. The information has been recalibrated to provide the most effective advice for readers who may not necessarily have recently claimed other benefits, or be dealing with some of the more common, deep rooted issues such as pre-existing problem debt or financial exclusion. The guide is now available to our partners as a PDF.
To find out more about the new coronavirus specific UC guide, including placing orders, please contact Lisa Woodman, Partnerships Manager, on [email protected] or 07548 627303.
