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Universal credit rollout will go ahead despite Tory MPs' call for delay Universal credit rollout will go ahead despite Tory MPs' call for delay
(35 minutes later)
A Tory MP leading a backbench revolt on the implementation of the controversial universal credit system has appealed directly to the prime minister to intervene and order a last-minute halt to its rollout. The government is to press ahead with its rollout of universal credit, the work and pensions secretary has confirmed, despite a last-minute appeal from Tory backbenchers for a delay.
Heidi Allen confirmed that she and 14 fellow Conservative MPs, two more than originally reported, had written to the government calling for the rollout of the new system to be paused. More than a dozen Conservative MPs had raised concerns with David Gauke’s department that claimants were being forced to use food banks because of the mandatory six-week wait to receive money.
The work and pensions secretary, David Gauke, has indicated he intends to press ahead with a plan to accelerate the rollout to 50 more areas this month. On Monday, the MP who led the plea, Heidi Allen, appealed directly to Theresa May to intervene.
But Allen appealed to the prime minister to halt the programme. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “My understanding is there isn’t any legislation that might stop or start this, it is already in train. It is more a question of whether it reflects what we heard the prime minister say when she first became PM on the steps of No 10. She showed to me a really clear understanding of people who are struggling to make ends meet. But in his speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Gauke praised the controversial system, which is being gradually introduced around the country.
“So, to me, it doesn’t fit with that belief in a moral compass. These are the vulnerable people with no recourse to savings. We should be supporting them because universal credit is about supporting people in work and helping them move up the working ladder and take on more hours. That is who we should as Conservatives be supporting.” “Universal credit is working,” he said. “So I can confirm that the rollout will continue, and to the planned timetable.
Commenting on Gauke’s suggestion that implementation would go ahead, she said: “I hope that the rumours will be wrong. If we are celebrating the fact that advance payments are increasing and will increase, that means that the fundamental design of the system, which as a minimum is six weeks to wait, doesn’t work. It feels like an Elastoplast that is being stuck on, because six weeks is just too long for the majority of people to wait. “We’re not going to rush things; it is more important to get this right than to do this quickly, and this won’t be completed until 2022. But across the country, we will continue to transform our welfare system to further support those who aspire to work.”
“This is an IT project we can fix: we are talking months to delay it not years and we should take that opportunity. Gauke said the government would be “refreshing the guidance” to staff at the Department for Work and Pensions over the possibility of giving advance payments to claimants in difficulty.
“Whether six weeks is the correct amount and whether we can expect people who have no recourse to savings, currently one in four claimants still aren’t getting any money within six weeks. It is taking them longer and that’s what I’m worried about. So far, full service has been rolled out to 100 jobcentres and that’s taken us 16 months to get there: that’s about half a million people.” “Claimants who want an advance payment will not have to wait six weeks, they will receive this advance within five working days,” Gauke said. “And if someone is in immediate need, then we fast-track the payment, meaning they will receive it on the same day.”
Allen’s plea comes after Dame Louise Casey, a former government official who conducted a year-long study for ministers into community cohesion, likened pressing ahead with the universal credit rollout to “jumping over a cliff”. She told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Friday the changes, which involve merging six benefits into a single monthly payment, made her “hair stand on end”. Debbie Abrahams, the shadow work and pensions secretary, condemned the confirmation of the rollout, saying Gauke “should immediately end the misery caused by the six-week wait for payment of universal credit”.
Casey, a former director of the Labour government’s rough sleepers unit, said the plans, which have already been tried on 530,000 claimants, would “end up making the situation worse for people that are working poor – let alone people that are on benefits”. Speaking earlier on Monday, Allen said she and 14 other Conservative MPs, two more than originally reported, had written to the government calling for the rollout to be paused.
“My understanding is there isn’t any legislation that might stop or start this, it is already in train. It is more a question of whether it reflects what we heard the prime minister say when she first became PM on the steps of No 10,” Allen told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“She showed to me a really clear understanding of people who are struggling to make ends meet.
“So to me, it doesn’t fit with that belief in a moral compass. These are the vulnerable people with no recourse to savings. We should be supporting them, because universal credit is about supporting people in work and helping them move up the working ladder and take on more hours. That is who we should as Conservatives be supporting.
“If we are celebrating the fact that advance payments are increasing and will increase, that means that the fundamental design of the system, which as a minimum is six weeks to wait, doesn’t work. It feels like an Elastoplast that is being stuck on, because six weeks is just too long for the majority of people to wait.
“This is an IT project we can fix: we are talking months to delay it, not years, and we should take that opportunity.”
Allen’s comments came after the former government official Dame Louise Casey, who conducted a year-long study for ministers into community cohesion, likened pressing ahead with the universal credit rollout to “jumping over a cliff”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme on Friday that the changes, which involve merging six benefits into a single monthly payment, made her “hair stand on end”.
Casey, who led the rough sleepers unit under Tony Blair’s Labour government, said the plans, which have been tried on 530,000 claimants, would “end up making the situation worse for people that are working poor, let alone people that are on benefits”.
The Labour MP Frank Field, who chairs the work and pensions select committee, said: “David Gauke has today pressed the button that will cause havoc to hundreds of thousands of poorer people’s lives, building up to a meltdown over Christmas.
“It is not too late for him to act politically wisely, as well as compassionately. People must be put before arbitrary rollout dates of a project which cannot work.”