Joiner forced to sell all of his tools and give up work permanently to feed his children on Universal Credit The Williams family ended up having to rely on foodbanks and use money from selling off work tools to feed and clothe their children

When Kati Williams’ husband, Marc, went into hospital for a knee operation, she thought she would be able to rely on a little help to cover the rent until he was back on his feet again.

With four children to look after, including a three-month-old baby, she couldn’t manage on her maternity leave payments and tax credits alone and, as Marc was self-employed, he wasn’t entitled to holiday or sick pay.

To keep a roof over their heads while Marc was recovering, Kati, 37, asked her local council about housing benefit but was told she would have to apply for Universal Credit instead.

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As a result, the tax credits the couple received were stopped and the family were plunged into poverty.

Joiner Marc even had to give up work permanently, selling all of his tools and getting rid of his van just to provide school uniforms for his children.

“Going on to Universal Credit was the worst mistake I ever made,” Kati told i. “We were just about managing before with help from tax credits but when our circumstances changed and we were switched over, we never knew what we were going to get month by month and some months we were left with nothing for food or essentials for the kids.

“Marc can’t work at all now as he’s had to sell off all of his tools so we are much worse off in every way.”

Surgery needed

The couple and their four children, Alfie, eight, George, seven, Leo, four, and Annie, three months, were managing to survive fine until Marc, 38, went into hospital in February last year. He’d been suffering from severe knee pain caused by torn cartilage and was booked in for surgery to repair it.

But what was meant to be a half-hour operation turned out to be more complex when surgeons discovered his knee was in a worse state than expected. He was told he would need eight weeks off work to recover which meant he couldn’t earn.

With Kati receiving around £500 a month on maternity leave on top of the £800 a month tax credits they were given, she was worried about paying the rent and bills, which came to over £1,000 a month in total. So she went to her local council and asked about housing benefit to help.

“I was told I would have to apply for Universal Credit online instead as they were stopping all claims for housing benefit,” she explained. “But I didn’t have a clue what I was doing with the form and there wasn’t any help available.”

The staff were asking why he wasn’t working and claiming he was fit to work which was ridiculous. He was standing there on crutches with blood coming through his banadages because he’d fallen at home Kati Williams

The couple waited a month to hear back about their claim but no notifications came through.

“I phoned eventually and they told me there had been a glitch in our account,” said Kati. “It didn’t ask us to verify who we were when it should have which meant our payment would take even longer to come through.

“By this point the rent was due and bills were starting to mount up.”

Kati tried several times to upload documents onto the system but it wouldn’t allow her to and when she called the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to enquire about it, they told her she and Marc would have to go into a Job Centre to sort out the issue or risk losing their claim.

“He’d only come out of hospital after his surgery two days earlier and could barely even stand up on crutches,” Kati said. “The staff were asking why he wasn’t working and claiming he was fit to work which was ridiculous.

“He was standing there on crutches with blood coming through his bandages because he’d fallen at home as we were getting ready for the appointment. There was no way he should have been up and about yet and certainly no way he’d be able to work on a building site. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.”

Couldn’t pay for food

Struggling to pay for food as they continued to wait for their first Universal Credit payment to be paid, the couple had to apply for an advance because the benefit is paid in arrears and they’d run out of money.

But even when the UC payment did come through in March – two months on – it wasn’t enough.

They’d previously received £800 per month in tax credits, added to Kati’s part-time salary as a carer and whatever Marc earned each month, which was enough to cover rent, household bills, food and childcare.

“We were even able to put a little aside some months to take the kids out for the afternoon to McDondalds or a play centre as a treat,” Kati said.

“But we were much worse off under Universal Credit as we never knew what we were going to get month by month. One month, we were paid just £180.82. On top of my maternity allowance, which was the only other money coming in, it was only enough to cover the rent and council tax. What were we meant to eat?”

Desperate measures

Desperate, the couple had to borrow money from family members and Marc returned to work early in April before fully recovering to try and earn.

But he struggled to cope with the pain in his knee and wasn’t always able to do a full day.

“We would be paid varying amounts of Universal Credit based on what Marc had earned the previous month,” explained Kati. “One month we would get around £600, another around £500 and then £180 the next. It was a nightmare as we could never budget.

“We also had to pay off the advance we took out at the beginning so those payments were taken off.”

Kati said she was also penalised for being a part-time student, studying Public Health and Wellbeing at Wrexham Glyndwr University. Her grant, which was intended to pay for travel, textbooks, stationary and other overheads, was classed as income – something that didn’t happen when she was receiving tax credits.

“They even took into account my student loan and classed that as earnings,” Kati added. “It’s a loan for God’s sake – something I have to pay back. They wouldn’t class a bank loan as income so why would a student loan be?”

Just when the couple thought their situation couldn’t get any worse, Marc’s knee deteriorated again in June as a result of him going back to work early.

Complete mess

Having moved to a new area, three of their children needed new school uniforms too and, with no money to pay for them, Marc had to sell off his work tools, meaning he had to permanently give up work as a joiner.

“The van he had was on hire purchase so we had to give that back too as we couldn’t afford to keep running it and were using food banks at this stage we were so poor,” said Kati. “My university grant and loan was going towards food and bills too – never mind text books. Universal Credit left us in a complete mess.”

Marc was also diagnosed with PTSD and depression and, after having to give up work. his mental health deteriorated further.

He applied for Personal Independence Payment in November but Kati said he was turned down on the grounds that they thought his mood was not low enough and his knee did not affect his daily living. He is now appealing against the decision.

We are so grateful for food banks but it’s so soul destroying as a parent having to use one,” Kati said. “You feel like you are failing and letting your children down Kati Williams

“He’s in pain every day and has been suicidal he’s been so down,” she explained. “How they can say it doesn’t affect him I don’t know.”

Last week the family car broke down and, with no money to fix it, the couple scrapped it for £50. They have also gone into arrears on their council tax but haven’t the money to pay it off.

Want to work

“We are so grateful for food banks but it’s so soul destroying as a parent having to use one,” Kati said. “You feel like you are failing and letting your children down.”

Kati says she has considered going back to work full-time but, with Marc not well enough to care for the children at home alone and her worries that their Universal Credit payments will be cut further, she doesn’t want to take the risk.

“People with families want to work but the system makes it impossible for them to,” she added. “There is no incentive if people are worse off financially.

“We had to switch over from tax credits to Universal Credit because our circumstances changed but my advice to anyone on tax credit would be to stay on it for as long as you can. It was the worst mistake I ever made.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said Kati and Marc continued to receive Universal Credit payments which fluctuated depending on their monthly household income and that ‘Mr Williams had not informed us he was having difficulty attending UC appointments.

The spokesperson added: “We’re not aware of any issues preventing him from uploading information online, but documents can be sent by post in case of difficulty. Decisions to award personal independence payments are based on the evidence available to us at the time, and we’re looking at Mr William’s case again as he has asked for a review.

“With Universal Credit people can get paid urgently if they need it and 95% of payments are made in full and on time. We currently spend over £95 billion a year on welfare and also offer support with budgeting.”