A Universal Credit claimant who was made redundant during the coronavirus pandemic said inadequate support has left him reliant on family to make ends meet.
Paul Jackson, 40, said he has been unable to find work after a year on Universal Credit, following his redundancy during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hull man said the government’s scrapping of the £20 Universal Credit pandemic uplift came at the worst possible time.
He went on to claim it showed politicians did not understand the plight of claimants.
His comments come weeks after the scrapping of the uplift, costing claimants more than £1,000 a year in the deepest overnight cut to benefits the welfare system has faced.
But a spokesperson from the Department for Work and Pensions said their current focus was getting claimants back into work.
"Our comprehensive Plan for Jobs is helping jobseekers boost their skills and find employment with over a million vacancies out there," they said.
“Once in work, they will soon benefit from a rising Living Wage and £1000 a year more from their benefits through our taper rate changes, whilst our £500 million Household Support Fund is also available to support people with essential costs.”
Mr Jackson said before receiving Universal Credit, he had been in business development for a company providing apprenticeships and the likes.
“I was made redundant because of the pandemic, the company couldn’t place any apprentices in jobs for a year so the money dried up,” he told Hull Live .
“So I applied for Universal Credit as soon as I got out of that job. I was in work for 10 years so this is my first experience of Universal Credit, it hasn’t been great.
“I was on disability benefits before, they weren’t as bad as this.
“It’s difficult to find a job I can do because I’m disabled, I haven’t been able to find anything.
“I can only really do office jobs, administration roles and things like that, most of the jobs available are manual work.
“To be fair my work coach has been brilliant with helping me to find jobs to apply for.
“But you never heard back from so many employers, I understand they’ll probably be busy but a lot of the time they don’t even acknowledge your application.
“It can get disheartening, but it’s the same for everyone else on it.
“Making the money last is a struggle, I live on my own and I’ve got rent and bills to pay and I’ve got to buy food. Now that they’ve taken the extra £20 off it’s a nightmare.
“It’s crunch time now, I need to find something, at the moment I have about £20 a week to buy food and whatnot.
“If it wasn’t for my mum and sister helping me out I don’t know how I’d cope.
“I can’t even go on nights out with friends unless mum gives me a few quid. One of my uncles works for Citizens Advice so he helps me with job applications as well.
“You’ve just got to get on with it, but the thought of not having enough money is always at the back of your mind.
“I can fall back on them, but for people who don’t have that it must be dire.
“We’re supposed to spend 35 hours a week searching for jobs but it’s impossible, there aren’t enough that I can apply for out there.
“If I was able bodied then I might be able to manage. So I’m basically a prisoner in my own home, stuck trying to find jobs to apply for.
“The government took away the uplift at the worst possible time, a lot of people like my sister are still working from home.
“Politicians don’t know what it’s like, they’re living in an ivory tower.
“They have no idea what it’s like to be on the poverty line, they say they understand how bad things are for us but they don’t have a clue.
“They’re taking £20 away from the people who need it the most then cut taxes for the rich.
“And it’s not just the uplift going, we’ve good food prices going up, the cost of living is rising.
“They say they’re increasing the amount of Universal Credit we’ll keep while working, but price of everything else is rising at the same time.
“So what little we’ll get will be gone, we’ll be worse off really.
“You do get some people who come here who don’t want to work, they just come to get their money and go home again.
“But then people like me who want to walk never seem to get anywhere.”
Conservative ministers including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said the £20 uplift was only temporary and that work would be available as the economy recovers.
The Chancellor also announced in his Budget speech the taper rate of Universal Credit would be lowered from 63p, taken from every pound of benefits for hour worked to 55p.
