Buy now, pay later firms which offer short repayment periods are to face more scrutiny by The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) following a review by the government. These services allow customers to split payments and are initially interest free. This enables the customer to pay for items in instalments, with some allowing up to 30 days deferment to pay for
Read more
The government has been accused of covering up a significant report on Universal Credit to hide the poor results. The study which looks at the transition from Tax Credits to Universal Credit is dated November 2017. It was carried out jointly by HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its results although dated, paints a dire picture
Read more
In an answer to a written question, The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed that its most recent figures show 53% of Universal Credit claimants had money deducted from their benefit payment. Deductions have long been raised as pushing people into poverty but as of yet, the DWP have no heeded this warning. Chair of the Work and
Read more
An answer to a written question in the House of Lords has revealed that 16% of new Universal Credit claims still aren’t paid on time. The government also revealed that 6% of all claims aren’tbeing paid to claimant when they should. With the pilot of managed migration starting later in the year, not to mention the addition of mixed age
Read more
Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd has caused upset and shock by saying the 5 week wait for claimant’s first Universal Credit payment is acceptable. Unveiling a raft of “supposed” new announcements for Universal Credit, Rudd said of the 5 week period claimants have to wait; “at the moment I’m satisfied with what we’ve got”. This will come as a
Read more
Austerity, it ain’t over This is the first episode of: Last Week in the News and it’s about austerity. It’s a roundup of news stories throughout the week that didn’t get the coverage they deserve. This week we have stories related to Theresa May’s false claim that “austerity is over.” I plan to do more videos on various topics which
Read more
National foodbank charity The Trussell Trust have released their latest study on the effect Universal Credit has had foodbank referrals and other poverty factors in the UK. The comprehensive study is damning for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as it shows that the new benefit is directly to blame for the rise in foodbank use. More worryingly it
Read more
The owner of a property management company in Devon has had to evict three tenants after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to make payments for claimants rent as part of Universal Credit. He has also been instructed by landlords not to rent to all benefit claimants so as not to cause a repeat of the issues that have already occurred. No longer accepting benefit
Read more
Just a day after telling me that they had overturned their original decision on my fitness to work and stating that I’m due back payment. The Department for Work and Pensions – DWP have now suddenly found debts to recover from it. The catch they couldn’t tell me what they are yet. So I last wrote about the DWP’s sudden
Read more
I just want to start by saying that the response since my first article has been overwhelming. Organisations, journalists and claimants have shared it and I’ve heard from people about their experiences with Universal Credit, and it has been humbling. It’s hard to know what the right thing to do is in these situations and I have been extremely grateful for
Read more