WHEN the Conservatives introduced universal credit (UC) back in 2011, it should have been an opportunity to build on Labour’s game-changing tax credit system. 

By consolidating various benefit systems, UC was meant to make the benefit system easier to navigate. 

The system could have brought about improvements for those most in need. The Conservatives, however, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, by severely cutting funding — hitting the poorest households hardest. 

Labour’s tax credit provided financial assistance to nine in 10 working families, while targeting greater help to the lowest paid and those with the biggest caring responsibilities. The system gave families on benefits a way out of poverty through work. 

Despite many successes, the tax credits system did have its problems. The claims process was unnecessarily complicated and there were continued difficulties when interacting with the wider benefits system. 

So universal credit could have been an opportunity to remedy those issues, but austerity meant the opportunity was missed.

For many years Usdaw has called for the rollout of universal credit to be halted. 

At the same time, we believe there should be a full review and overhaul of how the government supports the incomes of low-paid workers and those who are struggling to make ends meet. 

UC has been badly mismanaged, fundamentally undermined by austerity cuts and has caused a great deal of misery for many working people.

The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the financial insecurity of those in and out of low-paid forms of employment. 

For many of those in need, the crisis is exacerbated by the additional stress and suffering caused by the ongoing failures of the universal credit system. 

We welcomed the £20 uplift, but it was only a short-term sticking plaster that is now being painfully ripped off. 

Universal credit was sold as something that would protect the vulnerable and “make work pay,” yet we now know that it has failed to do this on almost every level. 

The five-week wait period is not only unnecessary but is sending people into debt from which they struggle to recover. 

Monthly assessments are out of touch with the pay schedules for most low-paid workers. 

Supermarket workers are generally paid every four weeks, and many other low-paid workers are paid fortnightly or weekly.

Over the past four years, the cruel “two-child rule” has affected well over half a million children, driving hundreds of thousands of families into poverty. 

The payment to a single recipient reduces financial independence for vulnerable women.

On top of these fundamental flaws in the design of universal credit, the government is looking to reduce payments by £20 per week, taking away a much-needed lifeline from claimants.

So at Congress we are calling for fundamental reforms including: permanent retention of the £20 uplift introduced during the coronavirus crisis; immediate reform of the fundamental flaws in the system, and universal credit to be replaced by a social security system that supports low-paid workers and the self-employed.

Unfortunately these demands have been consistently ignored by the current government, so Usdaw welcomes Labour’s significant commitment to reform. 

That commitment stands in stark contrast to the callous decision of the Conservatives to cut universal credit payments by over £1,000 a year from October.

Labour will reduce the “taper rate,” putting an end to the ludicrous situation where low-paid workers claiming universal credit currently have an effective tax rate of over 70 per cent.  

Under the current system, working extra hours while on UC can leave families feeling worse off. 

Usdaw has shared our members’ experiences of this unfair practice with the Labour Party and we are pleased that they have listened to the concerns of low-paid workers.

We need a proper social security system that supports families both in and out of work. 

That need has been highlighted even more during this appalling pandemic. It is clear that only a Labour government will deliver this.

Paddy Lillis is general secretary of Usdaw.