Merseyside now on Universal Credit

The new Universal Credit welfare scheme is now being rolled out across Merseyside to lone parents and couples with children. A large number of the Jobcentres will now be processing applications for this benefit. The area of the county being impacted include Bromborough, Birkenhead, Hoylake, Upton, Warrington, and Wallasey, with additional locations and towns to be impacted over the next several weeks.

The change will impact families that were on one of six benefits in the past, and all of the various payments they received for expenses such as housing or income support will be impacted. In the past, people or maybe even their landlords received multiple payments from the central government for all these bills, and now they will be rolled into just one single payment.

Portions of the Universal Credit scheme were already rolled out earlier to single people as well as couples without children in the past, and so the changes being implemented now will impact even more people in Merseyside. As time goes on, the process will also be completed.

While some areas are being impacted right now and the Jobcentres will be placing new claimants on the system, it will not be complete until the Spring of 2015 or even later, if the programme stays on schedule. Based on the currently plans in place, it is expected that about one third of Jobcentres will been up and running in early 2015.

Controversy from Merseyside politicians on the Universal Credit scheme

While the new scheme is controversial and behind schedule, Work and Pensions states the new system will reduce the cycle of entitlements and benefits that people have in Merseyside and other parts of the nation. It will also reduce fraud in the system, and it will place responsibility on people to budget their own income. It also encourages employment and can help people both find and keep a job.

One issue that some MPs in Merseyside have is that it is a means tested scheme. This means that if a claimant works longer hours, or earns a higher income, then their payments from the Universal Credit will be adjusted. People on the new system will lose out disproportionately as they enter the workforce, and some MPs feel this balance is not correct, though DWP does contest this.

The lack of budgeting and advice being offered to the low income is another concern that politicians have. Households in Merseyside that are now on housing benefits, receive disability payments, income support, or working and child tax credits should plan on being impacted. Rather than receiving multiple cheques or bank transfer, or maybe have some payments such as housing sent directly to their landlord, the claimant will now receive just one payment.

People will also be responsible for budgeting, and using those funds to pay all of their bills and household expenses on their own. This enhances personal responsibility, which is an aim of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Staff from Job Centres will also be working with claimants to help people move into a job and stay in work longer, those maximising their income. However this part of the scheme is now fully up and running in the Liverpool area.

The bottom line is that Universal Credit is the government plans to continue to enhance the welfare system in the UK. While portions of Liverpool are being impacted now, the balance of the nation will be impacted in the future as well.