Don’t Get Bitter (Part Two: The Benefits System)

Originally posted 23/04/2020

Part One: AccessibilityThe other day there was a feature on Universal Credit (and other benefits were mentioned) on BBC News. There has been a huge rise in applications recently since many people cannot work and don’t qualify for the criteria for government help. I feel extremely sorry for everyone in this situation and my prayers are with them, but that’s not actually the main message I took away from the segment.

It was possibly one of my greatest “Don’t Get Bitter” test of this pandemic so far. We all know that the benefits system is broken, has been broken for a long time, and there has been an ongoing battle to get it reformed. There was very little mention of this in the broadcast, though it was noted that the five week wait for the first payment has always been an issue. The focus was on the fact that the system was struggling to provide for the huge rise in applicants.

Many weeks back, I read some government guidance on what to do if the Covid situation means losing your income, which advised applying for Universal Credit or one of the other benefits. I remember wondering if most people following that advice would be in any way prepared for the struggle that is claiming benefits, and if the DWP would continue its policy of paying up to as few applicants as possible.

An applicant who had applied for UC for the first time was interviewed, and in it she mentioned the problems she was having—being told her application would be cancelled if it wasn’t completed, while she was waiting for a new passport to arrive, for instance—but one moment that hit me hard was when she said she had been reluctant to apply for UC because of the “shameful stigma” attached to it. She and the news reader agreed there shouldn’t be a stigma, and rightly so, but hearing that voiced on the news was a very strange and emotional moment.

A Minister was also interviewed (I confess I can’t remember who it was), who said the Department for Work and Pensions were struggling to get the money out, and again in reference to the five week waiting period, said that in this time it was “not fit for purpose” (a phrase I recall being quoted from someone in at least one news article long before the pandemic). I actually said to the screen, “It was never fit for purpose!”

Whether the DWP has shelved their usual methods of trying to filter out as many applicants as possible, I don’t know. I wonder particularly about vulnerable people who would normally be well enough to work, but whose work is impossible to do from home, and has chosen or had to stop in order to protect themselves from the virus, would be turned down for Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit if they applied for it. I really hope and pray that, like many others, the DWP is choosing to do the right thing for once, and providing for all of those who actually need it.

But I’m making a big effort here to not agonise over these questions, and to not get angry, frustrated or bitter. Because this situation comes with the opportunity for great reform of the benefits system, the same way it comes with the opportunity to educate society on inclusivity for the disabled. As the rush of applications goes down in future weeks/months, it would be the ideal time to keep a close eye on DWP practises and apply pressure for where it still needs to be changed.