Warning over huge shake-up in benefits

Too little has been done to prepare claimants for a new benefit system, Citizens Advice warned after a survey found almost half felt unready to claim online and 22 per cent did not have the right banking facilities.

The Government’s troubled Universal Credit – which brings together six out-of-work benefits into one – is due to be piloted in several more areas of England and Wales by the spring.

But the charity said conversations with more than 1,000 clients in affected parts of the country exposed a dramatic lack of help for people struggling to cope with the shake-up.

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More than one in five did not have access to direct debits and bill payments and other banking services needed to claim the new payments, they found.

Some 49 per cent said they would struggle with online forms – with 47 per cent having no home internet.

The survey found 83 per cent were not ready to budget with single monthly payments and would find an adjustment period of fortnightly, rather than monthly, payments helpful to cope. A total of 86 per cent felt they lacked vital information and 75 per cent wanted rent to continue to be paid directly to their landlord.

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “For Universal Credit to be the revolutionary reform ministers promised, we desperately need to know how people moving onto the new benefit are going to be supported.

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“The idea of a single universal benefit is a good one but the poor, unclear delivery is a big risk to our clients’ well-being.

“Our research shows how risky it is to plough ahead with this huge new reform without taking the time to get the details right. Unless ministers address these glaring problems, there is a real danger that some people will be left without the support they need and unable to pay bills.”

The Citizens Advice Bureaux involved in the study included the bureau in Harrogate.