Stop and Fix Universal Credit Day of Action
Saturday 02 December 2017 at 08:00-20:00
This Christmas will be cancelled for thousands of families claiming the new benefit Universal Credit. Despite knowing Universal Credit causes serious problems for claimants, Theresa May's Tory government is pressing ahead and rolling it out to thousands of people who will have to wait weeks to receive any money.
Claimants are descending into debt, relying on food banks, getting into rent arrears and in many cases getting evicted from their homes because of in- built problems with Universal Credit.
WATCH THIS MESSAGE OF SUPPORT FROM JEREMY CORBYN
Take action NOW against Universal Credit
On Saturday 2 December 2017 Unite Community will be staging a national day of action against Universal Credit to send a message to the Tory government that they must STOP & FIX Universal Credit before rolling it out and further or thousands of families face a cold a hungry Christmas and the threat of losing their homes.
Contact your local community coordinator and get involved on Saturday 2 December.
Who gets Universal Credit
Universal Credit replaces five benefits – child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance and working tax credit.
Seven million households will be affected, including over one million low paid part-time workers. For the first time ever people in work could face being sanctioned (having their benefits stopped) if they don't prove to the job centre that they're searching for better paid work or more hours.
What needs fixing
Unite is calling on the government to:
Abandon the long waits for claimants to receive money
Allow people to apply for Universal Credit in a jobcentre, not just online
Provide people with better help when the system fails them
Pay landlords directly to stop people getting into rent arrears and losing their homes
End benefit sanctions for in-work and out-of-work claimants
Stop payments going to one named member of a household
Make work pay – Universal Credit takes 63p in every £1 people earn
For a list of local actions click here
Get in touch and tell us about your Universal Credit stories. Send your stories to Liane.groves@unitetheunion.org.