‘I’m receiving less now than what I was receiving in hardship, which is total madness’ – Mhari, 37, Ayrshire

I waited seven weeks for my first payment, in which time I had to use a food bank to eat. No money was backdated and I only received four weeks’ money, putting me in arrears by three. I had to call my energy supplier as I had no money for electricity and gas, they were excellent and gave me a code to apply credit to pre-payment meters. My broadband was cut off, costing me a reconnection fee. I need to be online to carry out my claimant commitment of 35 hours per week job search.



With all this going on I requested an alternative payment arrangement (APA) to be set up to pay rent straight to my landlord and the adviser told me it would be applied. I then received £250 and thought this was mine (with deductions and rent having gone straight to my landlord) only to receive a call from them asking why my rent hadn’t been paid.



I was then told the £250 was issued in error (I now have to pay it back). It turns out the landlord has to apply for the APA directly and it will only be considered if in arrears – so that was another month’s rent unpaid. In my opinion the advisers have not been properly trained. I genuinely feel I know more about how the system works than most of them through speaking to others [in my situation] on an excellent support group for UC on Facebook.



Quick Guide What is universal credit and what are the problems? Show What is universal credit? Universal credit (UC) is the supposed flagship reform of the benefits system, rolling together six benefits into one, online-only system. The theoretical aim, for which there was general support across the political spectrum, was to simplify the system and increase the incentives for people to move off benefits into work. About 2 million people are currently in receipt of UC. More than 6 million will be on the benefit by the time it is fully rolled out. How long has it been around? The project was legislated for in 2011 under the auspices of its most vocal champion, Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith. The plan was to roll it out by 2017. However, a series of management failures, expensive IT blunders and design faults mean it is now seven years behind schedule, and rollout will not be complete until 2024. The government admitted that the delay was caused in part by claimants being too scared to sign up to the new benefit. What is the biggest problem? The original design set out a minimum 42-day wait for a first payment to claimants when they moved to UC (in practice this is often up to 60 days). After sustained pressure, the government announced in the autumn 2017 budget that the wait would be reduced to 35 days from February 2018. This will partially mitigate the impact on many claimants of having no income for six weeks. The wait has led to rent arrears and evictions, hunger (food banks in UC areas report notable increases in referrals), use of expensive credit and mental distress. Ministers have expanded the availability of hardship loans (now repayable over a year) to help new claimants while they wait for payment. Housing benefit will now continue for an extra two weeks after the start of a UC claim. However, critics say the five-week wait is still too long and want it reduced to two or three weeks. Are there other problems? Plenty. Multibillion-pound cuts to work allowances imposed by the former chancellor George Osborne mean UC is far less generous than originally envisaged. According to the Resolution Foundation thinktank, about 2.5m low-income working households will be more than £1,000 a year worse off when they move to UC, reducing work incentives.

Landlords are worried that the level of rent arrears accrued by tenants on UC could lead to a rise in evictions. It's also not very user-friendly: claimants complain the system is complex, unreliable and difficult to manage, particularly if you have no internet access.

And there is concern that UC cannot deliver key promises: a critical study found it does not deliver savings, cannot prove it gets more people into work, and has plunged vulnerable claimants into hardship.

The wait for first payments is putting everyone in debt – with sanctions and repayments I’m now receiving less than I was on hardship, it’s total madness. I am just about existing. If I had two doors in front marked life and death I would walk through the death door in a heartbeat.





Shenaz and Sophie Ismail. Photograph: None

‘Without patience from the housing association my sister would’ve been on the streets’ – Shenaz Ismail, Croydon

“My younger sister Sophie has Down’s syndrome and after we sadly lost our mum, who was her main live-in carer, in March this year, she had to apply for universal credit to make ends meet.



“They had only moved into the housing association property around six months earlier, so we couldn’t transfer the tenancy after Mum’s death, which was quite sudden. I moved in as Sophie requires constant care and supervision with eating and medication as well as personal hygiene.

“Because of delays – it took four months for them to pay out – her rent has been in arrears for the last six months. We’ve had emails not replied to and I’m waiting for a decision they said they would send on 28 September. Luckily the housing association [Family Mosaic] have been very patient and have been helpful in trying to get in touch with and move the universal credit process along.

“We’re just about managing, with personal independence payments [disability benefit] and some other money, but with such a rent backlog and hundreds of pounds owed on electricity, and without that patience from the housing association she would’ve been on the streets.

“To make matters worse, while I’ve moved in to care for my sister, the council are charging her for a spare room [the bedroom tax] as it’s a two-bedroom place. My sister depends on others for everything and losing her mother made everything fall apart for her. She still thinks Mum’s going to come back. This is how the government treats people who are vulnerable.”

‘My eight-year-old son has seen me crying in the job centre’ – Alesja Alexandrov, 26, London

My husband is in full-time work, earning around £22k per year, and I am a full-time law student – we are trying very hard to improve our lives and those of our three dependants, but the universal credit system makes it very hard for us to do so. I have been on it since February 2015 and many times since then have had to use credit cards, my overdraft and savings, which we’re lucky to have, to be able to pay rent to my housing association. We feel let down as a hard-working family by IT errors and bureaucratic delays we’ve experienced.



Every time we have some change of circumstances our payments are frozen and we have to wait on average four to six weeks for it to be sorted. I’ve had to send numerous complaints, and needed the assistance of my very helpful MP. I also received apologies from the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] on numerous occasions, but there are still problems despite me doing everything right.

My eight-year-old son has seen me crying in the job centre and is scared we might be evicted. This has also damaged my mental health, because I never previously had rent arrears and debt is making me extremely stressed. The idea behind UC is amazing – to simplify the benefit system. However, in real terms this idea is absolutely achieving the opposite. It doesn’t help people to find work or improve their financial situation. It places them at risk of financial hardship and eviction along with constant stress.

‘This standard wait is mind-numbingly irresponsible on the part of the government’ – Paul Newman, 37, Surrey

There was a standard six-week wait for money, meaning I was certain to miss at least a month’s rent payment (and bills). I took a short term loan to cover it. This wait is mind-numbingly irresponsible on the part of the government, who also need to re-evaluate the cost of living.



When I eventually received my money the first time it went on repaying that loan, with interest, and left me with nothing for the remainder of the month. This time, I am guaranteed to not only miss October’s payments, incurring penalty fees, but also face having no food for three weeks. It’s serious!



There are other avoidable problems: my original application was “lost”. I had to re-apply, and, although my payments were backdated, there was a delay in receiving anything. I think in principle the system is ok and means far less “legwork ”, but in practice, it’s not operating correctly. Rent and bills are paid monthly, not every six or seven weeks, and we must ensure that our financially vulnerable people are able to afford those bills before they enter a downward spiral of added costs and interest .

‘If my mother hadn’t previously worked for the benefits department, I’d be using a food bank’ – Lauren , 22, London



I finished university without having a job secured and there have been moments in the past few months that were quite intimidating in terms of the consequences.



My mother used to work in the benefits department of our council and she suggested I try and claim housing benefit and JSA to see me through until I had a job – something which, as a recent graduate, I wasn’t aware I could do. She also suggested I could be eligible for a 13-week benefit protection, meaning my full rent would be paid for 13 weeks as I was previously able to pay my rent and I suddenly could not through no fault of my own. I searched online and was automatically redirected to universal credit, as it is being piloted in my borough.



I would, I was told, only have to fill in my information once and I would receive all of my necessary income through one system instead of both housing benefit and JSA. I assumed that this was the correct thing to do . However, after applying, I received an email stating that my first payment wouldn’t be received for at least six weeks and that from assessing my entitlement I would receive £680 pcm – my rent is £640 . I spoke again to my mother, who said I should withdraw my application and apply for housing benefit in person. Upon doing this, after making all of the suggestions given by my mother, it was eventually confirmed I was eligible for the 13-week protection and I could receive my first payment within three days.



If my mother, knowing as much as she did, hadn’t told me what to ask, how to ask it and who to direct it to, I would currently be in rent arrears, using a food bank and potentially facing eviction.

‘Do we get interest on late payments, like in the world of business? No’ – Anonymous, 25, Wales



I signed on to UC in order to make ends meet and cover the rent as I was self-employed and on the New Enterprise Allowance scheme, running a startup . The rent allowance for the council area fell short of what it actually cost me each month .



As I am self-employed and on UC, I have to declare my earnings every month, a week later I will receive up to the full amount of my claim, with deductions made depending on my wage paid that month from the company. Nearly every month, due to either personnel or computer error, UC does not pay me on the agreed date. Now, when I declare, I am usually on hold for a long time, and then have to go through the rigmarole of explaining the self-employed status, and sometimes even telling the advis er what to do. I always fulfil my end of the agreement (otherwise I would be sanctioned). Yet, every time they fail to pay me, I have to repeat the process of phoning, being on hold, explaining the situation, often repeating the declaration, and finally they will sort it and I get paid. It’s chaos, but, when they make a mistake it’s a simple apology and that’s that.



Obviously we cannot sanction them, but do we get interest on late payments, like in the world of business? No. If we don’t phone up and chase it, do we get paid? No. There is no way of getting UC to stump up for interest charges incurred when I’ve had to use credit cards to cover bills, etc, when the payment is late – having everything in one place is theoretically a good idea, but in reality the process is incredibly frustrating, disheartening and ultimately defeating.

‘I can’t even charge my wheelchair as it takes too much electricity ’ – Anonymous, 49, north-west England



I’ve had an eight week wait for payments due to job centre staff not knowing their own jobs or how it works. After not being able to pay rent for 13 weeks I’ve been served an eviction notice on a place I’ve lived in for 15 years, my good relationship with the landlord has now completely broken down.

My illness has become worse, and I’m experiencing constant harassment from authorities to do things I’m incapable of. I’m basically living hand to mouth, finding it hard to feed my children despite visiting food banks: it’s the worst situation I’ve been in in my life. I can’t even charge my wheelchair as it takes too much electricity.

I can’t continue to cope this way: there was nothing wrong with the old system. I’m around £400 worse off a month. I think the government wants to finish us off, either by driving us to suicide or leaving us homeless and freezing on the streets.