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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

Labour considering plans to scrap Universal Credit

shawn mach
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From the Mirror:

Labour is poised to back scrapping Universal Credit .... senior party sources told the Mirror talks are under way about raising the radical proposal at next week’s Labour conference in Brighton.

... Labour’s previous position was to “reform” UC ... but multiple party sources said scrapping it, and replacing it with a fairer system, is now seen within Labour as the “direction of travel”.

It is understood senior figures are looking at a two-stage plan - immediate fixes to Universal Credit, followed by much longer-term reforms to scrap it altogether.

More: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/labour-considering-plans-scrap-universal-20072092

Dan_Manville
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Yet another layer of “reform” to add to the ever growing pile of books on my desk? It’s going to need reinforcing before long…

Mike Hughes
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Dan Manville - 18 September 2019 09:32 AM

Yet another layer of “reform” to add to the ever growing pile of books on my desk? It’s going to need reinforcing before long…

The solution is to abandon your desk and just build the books up until they form a desk.

As for this proposal. I could be heard emitting a strange, strangulated noise of frustration. It says everything that they’ve had a decade to come up with an alternative and this is the best they can do.

Dan_Manville
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Mike Hughes - 18 September 2019 12:05 PM

The solution is to abandon your desk and just build the books up until they form a desk.

 

Yebbut the minute I put anything on said desk the new book will refer me back to the 2006 version and I’ll have to start all over again.

Mike Hughes
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Dan Manville - 18 September 2019 12:57 PM
Mike Hughes - 18 September 2019 12:05 PM

The solution is to abandon your desk and just build the books up until they form a desk.

 

Yebbut the minute I put anything on said desk the new book will refer me back to the 2006 version and I’ll have to start all over again.

Have you not played Jenga? Pretty much how benefits legislation appears to be constructed.

Rehousing Advice.
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“Labour is poised to back scrapping Universal Credit .... senior party sources told the Mirror talks are under way about raising the radical proposal at next week’s Labour conference in Brighton.”

This is pretty radical as we have not scrapped the older legacy system yet…..

It probably reflects that policy wonks (who are not claiming benefits)  think about welfare systems like a car, ie we scrap the old and buy in a newer shinier model.

   

 

 

Peter Turville
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Dan Manville - 18 September 2019 09:32 AM

Yet another layer of “reform” to add to the ever growing pile of books on my desk? It’s going to need reinforcing before long…

Yesterday some 6” steel girders were installed in the lobby of the (council) building in which we were are based. They are for the installation of a community run library. What they hadn’t explained was that it is primarily to house our extensive library of benefit benefit text books!

MartinB - 18 September 2019 04:22 PM

This is pretty radical as we have not scrapped the older legacy system yet…..

It probably reflects that policy wonks (who are not claiming benefits)  think about welfare systems like a car, ie we scrap the old and buy in a newer shinier model.

Indeed - I note Labour have not produced any detailed policy papers on what they might replace UC etc with! We still have the Supp Ben books in out library - I think we hold the policy solution!

[ Edited: 19 Sep 2019 at 11:47 am by Peter Turville ]
Stephen C
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MartinB - 18 September 2019 04:22 PM

It probably reflects that policy wonks (who are not claiming benefits)  think about welfare systems like a car, ie we scrap the old and buy in a newer shinier model.

 

Yeah this feels like overkill. I could have used more meat on the bones of the ‘pause and reform Universal Credit’ mantra, but the idea was basically sound. Keep the goal of a single working-age benefit but scrap the punitive stuff (digital-by-default, the 5 week wait, harsh conditionality/sanctions etc.). Give it a new name and go.

Thersites
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I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

shawn mach
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Jeremy Corbyn is due to make a speech today in Chingford and Woodford Green (Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency) ...

Labour Party says it will scrap universal credit, replace the DWP with a Department for Social Security, and introduce a new benefit system based on dignity and respect.

Ianb
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shawn mach - 28 September 2019 10:45 AM

Jeremy Corbyn is due to make a speech today in Chingford and Woodford Green (Iain Duncan Smith’s constituency) ...

Labour Party says it will scrap universal credit, replace the DWP with a Department for Social Security, and introduce a new benefit system based on dignity and respect.

This reads as reforming UC rather than scrapping it as suggested by the headline. Reform seems like a better way to go forward, in my opinion, given where things are now.

shawn mach
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IDS not happy:

Why do the Labour Party and their friends in the left-wing media seem so hell bent in their efforts to undermine this policy? I can offer two reasons, firstly they refuse to accept the objective truth that work is the best route out of poverty ..

The second reason is simply that the left is still married to the failed and antiquated system of the past. I will never forget the welfare state I inherited in 2010 ...

More: https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1181114/Iain-duncan-smith-universal-credit-jeremy-corbyn

 

BC Welfare Rights
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Thanks for cheering me up by saying that IDS is not happy :-)

The Express is so on the ball it thinks that David Gauke is still Secretary of State at the DWP. We’ve only had 3 more of them since he left.

Daphne
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IFS analysis of Labour’s proposals -

The proposals specified today would, compared to current policy plans, top up the incomes of a significant number of low-income households – in some cases by £1000s per year. They do not, however, amount to anything close to a scrapping of universal credit. If that is ultimately the intention then we have yet to hear anything about what that would mean.

shawn mach
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