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UC Your experiences please
To those lucky advisers who have been struggling with UC for a while could I request some feedback on experience of UC in your area.
We are not getting UC until later in the year but I am going to be providing some training soon. I’ve done the CPAG course and read all the books but what I want to know (and I know those I am training will want) is what will happen on the ground for the clients.
I was hoping we could put together a top 10 list of problems you have encountered (and 10 things that are working well if there are any..), things to watch out for, ease of getting APR or STBA etc. Hopefully this will help me answer the tricky questions I will be asked.
I visited Bath CAB last week to have a chat, they have had UC for a year, singles only and have not dealt with large numbers or experienced too many problems locally, partially it seems due to the painfully slow roll out and client group.
Any posts appreciated even if one liners!
Thanks
Helen
You might find this useful:
http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/pub.housing.org.uk/Universal_Credit_One_Year_In.pdf
From the perspective of social housing providers but a lot of the experiences will be familiar to all in UC areas.
[ Edited: 13 Feb 2015 at 09:34 am by JoW ]See my thread below:
Impact of UC on advice work - any evidence / reports?
There appears to have been only a very limited impact on advice work etc so far even in areas which have had UC for some time including with the wider gateway conditions (couples etc) because the number of claimants actually on UC at any one time in each areay is still tiny. Issues are the usual problems of contacting DWP, getting any meaningful information / response, delays in payment, STBAs etc. that are familiar from other JCP benefits?
Most written reports and media coverage appear to concern the pro-active preperation by and impact on social housing providers rather than advice work.
Does anyone have a different perspective?
It’s not with us yet (10 days to go, but only in 2 Jobcentres!) but other areas that have had UC for a time indicate that they have had few cases as claimants - the very few that there are - have received a level of personal attention from JC+ staff that has made the process easy.
DWP claim that everyone will have a ‘one to one’ relationship with their own work coach, who will be the same person every time.
While UC remains small-scale, of course this is possible, and DWP can boast that claimants think UC is wonderful. But how long till Work Coaches are overburdened and under stress, or we get to scenarios as per JSA where different job-searching goals are set by different members of staff every time the claimant has any contact with them?
As suggested by CPAG - think of it another way - the total number of people currently on UC nationally (26,940 @ 11/12/14 - DWP figs) is less than the attendance at most Premier League matches.
Or for Maggie B at Dorchester - the total number of UC claimant likely in your (or any other new area) in the first year is likely to be less than the attendance at Dorchester Town FC (or did they go out of existance a year or two back?).
We’ve had UC since November.
Singles, then more recently couples and from March Childrens included.
Quiet - no appeals/MRs.
Word is locally UC is allegedly very popular with claimants.
They get to see a budgeting person who helps with DPs. Presume they get advice on STBA and all the rest if JC haven’t already advised.
- anecdotally;
Jobcentre is very busy taking claims
Some claimants have broken JSA claims to enable a claim for UC - unsure why….....word of mouth?
Others have returned to work quickly as can’t wait 4weeks for payment.
One was about eviction proceedings for (I’m told) spending money on Christmas not rent.
One where claimant claimed UC > then CA > Nil work requirements set as Care-ee has PIP via Special Rules (WFI are required under IS.)
Typically we don’t see many claimants of JSA or in work clients compared to ESA/DLA/PIP.
JSA were mostly sanctions and those in work is usually HB CoCs and TC OPs.
The gateway means the majority of clts ESA then PIP are ineligible for UC and that’s later on.
Average attendance at Dorchester FC is 200-300 (about 600 if they play Weymouth) although I confess I had to go to their website as I had no idea! (not a football fan)
I think the comment on Job Centre staff having plenty of time to spend with claimants is correct, that’s certainly the impression I got from my visit to Bath but we all know when the numbers pick up it is inevitable the usual problems will occur.
There was interesting discussion about how both JC staff and work programme providers will have to make changes and be more flexible as more claimants are going to be working and won’t be available for the fortnightly signing on or job club sessions.
We’ve had UC since November.
... Word is locally UC is allegedly very popular with claimants…
Hopefully it’s not like this..
Universal credit ‘a nightmare’, says claimant who advertised welfare reform.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-31487792
...?
UC is all about sanctions. People are frequently set up with totally unachievable claimant commitments because work coaches fail to undertake sufficient inquiry. For example people with very limited literacy skills / learning disabilities being sanctioned for failing to produce evidence of 35 hour per week work search. The claimant commitments are typically one size fits all and people have to sign to get any money and are then set up for sanctions - it’s a disgrace. UC is the most brutal unfair system of conditionality every devised.
We’ve had UC since November.
... Word is locally UC is allegedly very popular with claimants…
Hopefully it’s not like this..
Universal credit ‘a nightmare’, says claimant who advertised welfare reform.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-31487792
...?
Have you read the article?
He added: ‘‘JSA was just a case of write your name down. Write a couple of jobs down. Hand it in you get paid for it.
“But with this, you really have to work hard to find a job. And it works.’‘
UC is all about sanctions. People are frequently set up with totally unachievable claimant commitments because work coaches fail to undertake sufficient inquiry. For example people with very limited literacy skills / learning disabilities being sanctioned for failing to produce evidence of 35 hour per week work search. The claimant commitments are typically one size fits all and people have to sign to get any money and are then set up for sanctions - it’s a disgrace. UC is the most brutal unfair system of conditionality every devised.
On the matter of one size fits all….. The Equality Act is the tool you need.
There are specialists willing to assist.
For info
We’ve had UC here for a good number of months now, most areas across the borough have had claims open for those with children since just after the turn of the year. With that being said, the first thing to note is the extremely small number of UC clients we’ve actually seen. The amount of times we’ve had someone who we’ve thought should be claiming UC, only for them to be inelegible because they don’t meet one of the seemingly endless list of criteria, has been quite incredible.
Anyway, regarding those we have seen - one thing I have noticed is clients seem to lack any genuine understanding of what it is and how it works. I’ve had clients who haven’t understood the housing element and how it differs from HB in the way it’s paid. Even just trying to broadly explain what an assessment period is has been quite difficult at times.
In terms of problems, a recurring issue I have encountered is the JCP losing a client’s tenancy agreement, or claiming they’ve never seen it, leading to delays in paying the housing element. This same thing has happened on a number of different occassions, despite the client’s having it scanned in with the rest of their documents at the JCP. Generally speaking, delays to the housing element seem to be fairly prevalant from what I’ve heard from others as well.
My experiences with the UC helpline have been fairly negative too. Wait times have been mixed, but what I’ve noticed is that some of the staff don’t seem to properly understand UC either. In a couple of cases it’s been clear that the person on the other end hadn’t been properly trained and even seemed to lack an understanding of even the basic fundamentals of how UC works.
We’ve had UC since November.
... Word is locally UC is allegedly very popular with claimants…
Hopefully it’s not like this..
Universal credit ‘a nightmare’, says claimant who advertised welfare reform.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-31487792
...?
Have you read the article?
He added: ‘‘JSA was just a case of write your name down. Write a couple of jobs down. Hand it in you get paid for it.
“But with this, you really have to work hard to find a job. And it works.’‘
John - I did read it - you’re right to point out that this aspect was positive for the claimant (although the delay in payment and the payment cycle mismatch were both problems).
Is that a pattern you’re finding more generally in your area?
Some claimants are very worried about UC so it’s worth reiterating that, for many people at least, UC (when/if it finally arrives) should eventually end up making little difference in overall cash terms.
For claimants with fluctuating work UC could be simpler than the current system ( as long as you forget about the “surplus earnings” rules expected from April 2016).
However, it’s still reasonable to wonder…
(1) Once UC broadens beyond the current take-up group (limited, amongst other things, to the self-declared fit for work) then will the DWP have the resources (and the will) to support claimants and to apply the UC conditionality regime appropriately.
(2) Will the ‘old’ computer be able to cope this year or will delays get worse as the caseload goes up? Will the ‘new’ computer be ready by May next year?
Morning,
The article reflects the nature of journalism - sensationalist and misquoting to suit the ‘story’ or the outputs subscribers.
Monthly payments will be the difficult aspect for any claimants - most people - in work or not - on a low income would prefer to be paid weekly for budgeting purposes. Monthly budgets are far easier to deal with when the income is higher, as pointed out in the article. going for one or two days without is easier than one or two weeks.
The shift to monthly pay as in work started for me 30yrs ago. My paltry gross £60pw became £260 per month. Bus from the 1st to shanks’ pony from the end of week 2.
IMO UC is there to address other future shifts in work patterns. FT work of 37hrs is likely to become less the norm and UC reflects PT work and the ‘mobile’ workforce.
http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/21-hours
As for the DWP computers being old - I don’t know this to be true or otherwise.
My understanding is they have new software that combines several different platforms used on legacy benefits. Maybe new IT is in the pipeline for a later date?