FROM April 6 this year there is going to be a massive overhaul of the benefit system.

Thousands of single parents and couples who had previously claimed child tax credits and working tax credit are to be moved on to universal credit.

Some might say that this is a good thing. That they will be able to get all of their benefit allowances in one payment and that they will be better off financially.

The reality is a far cry from the propaganda that the government has issued over the past few years.

I’ve had the advantage of being able to see and learn from the claimants who have had to claim universal credit in my local town for three years now, and the reality is very grim indeed.

Most of the changes that are being rolled out in April concern me because they will be life-changing for everyone concerned. But I would like to focus on the parent and child-related changes.

This is of a particular interest to me because I am a single parent on a low income, and I’m all too aware of the effect that universal credit will have both on the lives of the parents and children concerned.

Can you imagine the government making an announcement that said that they had introduced a limit to how many children that any poorer person could have? The limit would be two. Of course families who are better off financially would be allowed to have as many children as they like.

It would cause outrage. And quite rightly so. But the government is effectively saying this with its new policy.

For new claimants, universal credit will be limited to two children only. There will be no financial increase for subsequent children, no allowances made as were previously made when claiming tax credits.

There will, however, be a delay to the implementation of these changes for parents who already have more than two children.

So if they are born before April 6, they will be redirected back to tax credits and will remain on this until November 2018, apparently to ensure that they don’t lose out financially. After this date their future support is unknown.

If your eldest child is born on or after April 6 2017 you will no longer be eligible for the first child premium previously received. They will receive the same rate as any other children.

Some might argue that this is fair, that an older child doesn’t cost more to keep than a younger child. My argument is that when you are on a very low income every penny counts. And as a child gets older they actually do become more expensive to take care of.

I find this very concerning. Child poverty and foodbank usage are at an all-time high, but the government is about to plunge thousands of children into even worse poverty than before.

It is effectively saying that only two children per family deserve to be fed. Parents are already going without meals to feed their children.

As a parent I cannot imagine having to be forced to make the decision as to which of my children I should feed. It’s inhumane. No child should go hungry, after all we are the fifth-richest country in the world, yet thousands are dependent on foodbanks and, as from April, I predict thousands more.

For three years I’ve witnessed the shambling mess which is the universal credit system.

They don’t simply transfer a claimant over to this benefit — that would be common sense. Instead the person concerned has to make a new claim. They are required produce lots of proof of ID and of course that costs money — money that a person being forced on to universal credit won’t have, especially when a universal credit claim can take months in some cases to go through. Claimants simply cannot win.

I’ve spoken to people who have given up trying to claim universal credit. It’s just too complicated and the stress made them ill. Some would rather shoplift to survive.

This then puts the claimant an impossible predicament. How do they feed their children and themselves? The jobcentre will tell them that they can get a loan, but this loan is payable out of their first and subsequent universal credit payments.

It’s a vicious circle of poverty and worry. It makes me angry because it’s all so unnecessary.

The government of course says that this will encourage people into work. The reality is that universal credit will do the opposite.

When forced to live on such a low income the main focus of life becomes survival. Do we eat or heat? Looking for a job really isn’t a priority. Staying alive always is a priority. A person’s survival instinct kicks in and their thought patterns become mainly concerned with food, heat and survival. Everything else will have to wait, there is no choice.

The Tory government seems to think that there are plentiful jobs available to everyone. Once again the reality is very different. Full-time jobs are extremely hard to find and well-paid part-time jobs are equally scarce.

Most people who I socialise with dream of having a full-time job. The reality is that most people are forced into zero-hours, low-paid jobs that can’t pay the rent, let alone put food on the table.

They work long hours, but still having to justify their existence to a jobcentre adviser who can decide at the click of a button if they deserve to be sanctioned.

While on universal credit and working, a claimant’s top-up money can be and often is sanctioned. When this happens it’s like hell on earth.

There is no quality of life, just existence. I find this very wrong. I remember when working-class people had a decent quality of life.

Tax credits were introduced when my eldest children were very young. My income increased to a level where I was able to buy decent food and was able to treat them to a pair of shoes. It opened up my world. Sadly the rug was pulled very quickly from under my feet, and I’m now worse off financially than I’ve ever been. Many babies and young children will now never know what a good quality of life is. It’s outrageous.

The government spent a lot of money promoting universal credit, saying that anyone claiming it will be better off once in work.

Universal credit brings with it nothing but chaos, confusion, poverty and stress.

Not only will it affect the physical health of a family, it will also affect the mental health of entire communities.

The effects could have a lifetime effect, even a generational effect. There is already a distinct lack of hope among jobseekers and this isn’t going to improve in the near future.

Each and every child in this country deserves a good quality of life. Good food, a nice home environment, choices and a good education. But our government is wilfully neglecting its reponsibilities.

This Tory government is guilty of neglecting our children. We need to fight for our children’s future because that is exactly what is at stake.

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