Is the system fit for purpose when it keeps the poor in poverty?

It’s important to say that Citizens Advice support the concept of Universal Credit.  We believe that the aim – to simplify welfare benefits – is right. But ‘the system’ which is geared to delivering that aim is already failing many people. So let’s just stop for a minute and take stock.  

Should we accept the system that, intentionally or unintentionally, keeps the poor in poverty? That puts the dream of home ownership or a university education for kids beyond the reach of hundreds of thousands of families? I can’t believe this is what was intended when Universal Credit was first conceptualised.  I can’t believe it because if I believed it, as the leader of a charity whose vision is a fairer society for all in which people have lives well lived, I’d be broken. A fair system, a system that enables, doesn’t stigmatise or cause hardship is surely the system we have to strive to achieve.

So as a society – a whole society - we’re challenged. I get that people may be frustrated with images beaming into their living rooms of seemingly ungrateful yobs; programmes like Benefit Street give the impression people make a choice to be on benefits. I honestly could even be tempted to think the same, if I had not seen the raw day-to-day reality that says, for the majority, that just is not the case. I also understand people are told, and therefore have no reason not to believe, that the poor are somehow undeserving and lacking in drive to change their situation; it disappoints me but it doesn’t surprise me.  It’s not true of course – of the many - but I understand why people may think that and why they cry out for change, so the state – we – are not subjected to having to prop up opportunists.

I’m not sure, however, that we are really getting to grips with what this means for the people they are stigmatising, for the communities they are passing over, for the children who will be born into poverty and remain there, never achieving their full potential.  This comes at a huge cost to real people and real children, as well as to the economy and to our society. The system that creates this outcome isn’t working.

My organisation mobilises knowledge in the sphere of social welfare. We do that in many ways, including providing free and independent advice and information about welfare rights and responsibilities to thousands of people every year. 60% of everyone we help lives in a household where at least one person is in full time employment.  This isn’t the profile that people expect – ‘poverty’ seems to have almost become a synonym of ‘lazy’. People who seek our help are often poorly paid and using Universal Credit to top up their earnings (instead of the old system of Tax Credits) but they aren’t scrounging; in the main they are working incredibly hard and yet barely scraping by. Rarely, if ever, do I come across people who choose to live a life beholden to a system that gives them scarcely enough to live on with no discretionary spend to encourage self-actualisation or even a glimmer of hope things could be different for them.  It doesn’t take much to knock you for six when you are scraping by. A bereavement, a marriage breakdown, redundancy, a long term health issue or a life limiting disability – these are difficult challenges for any of us to cope with. But if you have no financial buffer a trigger like this can prompt a downward spiral of disruption and despair. 

So it’s true to say that the aim of Universal Credit – to simplify welfare benefits – is something we wholeheartedly support, but what we cannot accept is the hardship it is causing. I do not believe we have really comprehended the consequences for our poorest people, for children, for our communities or for us as a whole society.  Inequality is growing in our country, the gap between the rich and the poor is wider than ever. Surely, we all want to be part of a society that is fair. We need to strive for a welfare benefits system that enables, does not cause hardship or stigmatise, so more than people’s basic needs are met (although even achieving that across the board for everyone would be a long way from where we’re starting). Our ambition at Citizens Advice Gateshead is to contribute towards building a society in which everyone has the opportunity to achieve their potential, to be fulfilled, to enjoy lives well lived. Our response to the national consultation on the system of Universal Credit will be clearly stating, based on our real experience, how this can be achieved.