The government is planning to cut Universal Credit (UC) by £20 a week. That might
not sound like a lot, but for millions this decision will be devastating. It'sone of the biggest losses in history for single claimants under 25, who will lose
almost a quarter of their monthly income. Between this and the national insurance
increase, the working class are being plunged into poverty, whilst those in power
live in comfort. ---- They claim this cut is to encourage people to look for
employment. But nearly 40% of UC claimants are already employed. Current wages
are so low that many people cannot live off them without benefits, forcing them
to work more for even lower wages. If the government doesn't want these people
claiming benefits, they should make companies pay them an actual living wage.
Instead, they try to sell you the tired old story of the "dolescum". They have
the gall to warn of scroungers and single mothers who just want free handouts,
before they head back to their million-pound mansions built with taxpayers'
money. The truth is, people claiming benefits are just trying to survive, and the
government is making that as difficult as possible.
I've been on UC on-and-off since I was 18, and I cannot begin to overstate how
gruelling and dehumanising the experience has been. You are expected to jobhunt
for the same amount of hours as working a full time job, looking for the
ever-shrinking number of openings only for your CV to be discarded without any
response. They expect you to shape your life around them, and they will sanction
you at any given opportunity. I once lost a month's worth of benefits because
they refused to move my appointment back a single day - and when I next showed
up, I was told my work coach wasn't in because she was hungover. It is a system
designed to break you, to leave you exhausted and unable to protest against the
horrendous treatment.
If the Tories say it's time to talk about mental health, then let's talk about
the severe toll that UC has had. Claiming disability benefits is an exhausting
process. I want you to imagine laying the intimate details of your physical and
mental health bare to a complete stranger, who then passes it on to a panel of
people you will never meet. I want you to imagine worrying if said panel will
decide you're disabled enough, suicidal enough, in enough pain to pass the test
and be awarded a small amount of money to live on, or if you'll be left to die.
And they will let you die. A 2015 report, published by the government themselves,
shows that between 2011 and 2014, eighty-thousand people died within six weeks of
their benefits being cut off or reduced. And it's still happening. In 2019,
Stephen Smith from Kensington, Liverpool, was denied benefits and forced to leave
hospital to fight the decision - despite being so ill with a respiratory
condition that he only weighed six stone. The DWP finally agreed to pay back
nearly £4,000 - but it was too little, too late. The money that could have made
his life easier was instead used to pay for his funeral. Who gave the government
the right to decide if these people deserve to live?
It can be hard to see a way out of this - and that's exactly how they've designed
it. They want you to feel powerless and alone - but remember, you are not. If
I've learned anything from my time in this city, it's that you are never alone.
We have power together - the government knows this and they're scared that we'll
realise it too. So stand up, learn your rights, and fight back.
If they leave us too poor to afford food, there will be nothing left to eat but
the rich.
https://liverpoolanarchist.wordpress.com/2021/10/03/life-on-the-dole/
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