Congratulations to the Re-Furloughed!
You can now sit at home or get another job if you choose
Meanwhile, the rest of us either continue doing the minimum wage jobs that are available to us from home or on the frontline in daily contact with the coronavirus. A third subset of society, because that’s what it appears to be, is the one where Universal Credit is the only option to survive.
Overwhelmed with needier than ever people, the Universal Credit system is even more broken than it was before the Welsh fire break lockdown.
Picture the scenario if you will. Bearing in mind there is a pandemic and the government wants to make sure homeless people have access to facilities where they can wash their hands in order to stop the spread of the virus.
- A man with mental health problems is made homeless in September. He is helped into a hostel by the council and receives 50% off his weekly rent. He has to find £83 per week for rent and more on top for food and toiletries. He pawns his laptop.
- He qualifies for various benefits thanks to a letter from his doctor and assistance from his support worker. He will receive his benefits on the 25th of October. He will only get his rent paid in arrears when he starts receiving his payments. There is no advance payment.
- I have holiday pay from my minimum wage job. I decide to use it to help out a friend. He is safe until his benefits come through.
- Then the Welsh fire break lockdown is announced. It starts on the 23rd of October and lasts until the 9th of November. UC workers stop working. They had five weeks before the 23rd to set up the man’s payment. This did NOT happen. He receives a new date on the 3rd of November. I tide him over. My holiday pay is gone.
- On the 4th of November, the man contacts me to say he didn’t receive his payment, he now has to wait until the 17th of November. He has not eaten for three days. I send what I can spare. I tell my dad, he sends what he can spare. The man eats but he cannot pay £83 rent on the 6th of November. He will be evicted from the hostel.
I’m not a proud person for others. I will beg for help. I am begging for help for a fellow writer who has been told he will receive help from the government three times, yet is still expected to pay rent while he waits. His mental health situation means he’s highly unlikely to get a job under normal circumstances. Certainly not during a pandemic.
In June, The Guardian stated that about 3 million people had claimed UC since March. Many were shocked they had to wait five weeks. Since June the situation has not improved.
The government focuses on saving money and the economy. Meanwhile, they are causing the lives of the jobless and minimum wage earners to be fraught with anxiety and fear over not having enough food to eat or being able to pay their gas and electricity bills. Those waiting for their first payment for five, six, seven weeks, more maybe, with the constant spectre of eviction from a hostel, because hostels don’t offer tenancy agreements, do they?
The man is Brian Cumberlidge. He’s a nice guy. Will you help him keep his room in an emergency hostel in Wales?
