This is the story of a young man attempting to claim Universal Credit, left in dire circumstances because of two simple administrative issues. First, he wanted to change Job Centres and was severely penalised for months when the switch was not made correctly. Second, his lack of a bank account hampered the emergency payments that were supposed to be a safety net.
Universal Credit should support and help people to find work. Instead, in this case, bureaucratic failings and indifference have failed this young man at each step of the way .
Edward, 19, has worked before, but can no longer do the physical jobs he once did and has had to sign-up to Universal Credit. He suffers from continuous pain from inverted knees – a condition not identified when he was young. Edward lives with his mother whose wages cover little more than the rent.
This is his experience of Universal Credit. It may make you angry.
October 2018
Edward applied for Universal Credit and was assigned to the Stratford Job Centre. He walked in to the Canning Town Job Centre and asked for his meetings to be set up there as it is nearer. They agreed.
November – December 2018
In November and December, Edward received £230 per month. He attended his meetings and updated his online journal for job-seeking as requested by the Canning Town Job Centre.
January 28, 2019
On 28 January, the day he expected January’s payment, Edward checked online. He found he is to receive nothing (£0). He wrote a message in his journal to his work coach asking why and spent the next few days trying to get clarity in numerous phone calls.
He was told he had been missing meetings at the Stratford Job Centre. This already meant his November and December payments were reduced from £250 to £230 as punishment.
Now, he’s missed so many meetings he is told he is being sanctioned and is being refused January’s payment.
Edward told the Job Centre that he was unaware that he had missed any meetings. He thought he had switched centres in October. Nobody told him he had to inform Stratford Job Centre himself. He believed the note made by Canning Town would explain the switch to Stratford.
Canning Town told Edward that he was informed there was a problem on the system.
There were messages but they were hidden. Every other message appeared on his journal. But these messages could be found by clicking on a tab on the home page and then into another tab on a new page. There was no message notification to tell Edward to check that tab. He did not know it even existed.
Edward asked a manager at Canning Town whether he could appeal the sanctions. The manager said it was their mistake and said he would provide a hardship payment. In effect the question of an appeal was put to one side. Edward, desperate for money, thought he could get the payment rather than wait for an appeal.
Edward applied for a hardship payment and received £134. He was told everything has been sorted.
February 28, 2019
On 28 February, Edward received nothing again, despite the reassurances he had received.
After enquiring he was told he is still on a penalty period and this still has 46 days remaining.
Edward then applied for another hardship payment. He is asked to give in a bank statement to prove he needs the money.
This becomes a problem as Edward has no bank account.
Edward needs documents including a passport to get a bank account. But his passport was lost when he was about 14 on one of the many moves his family made at that time.
Edward had not needed an account or a passport – much of his work had been with his dad. He didn’t need it and put it to one side.
But ever since he had realised he needed a passport, Edward has simply not had the money to get it and still have enough to live through the month.
With no bank account of his own, Edward has been using a relative’s account. The relative takes the cash out for him.
Edward then has to explain this to six different individuals. He is told all he has to do is provide the statement and that his situation should be sorted for this month.
He provided the statement and kept in communication. But his application for a hardship payment was declined. This, said the Job Centre, is due to “luxury spending” such as travel tickets on the statement.
Of course, this was his relative’s spending. Edward was told the account holder must sign a declaration saying that Edward only receives the money that Universal Credit provides. Edward brought in previous months statements and got his relative to sign a statement.
March 1, 2019.
Edward was told his penalty period should end by the 21st of March during one of his meetings with his work coach.
March 4, 2019
Edward received the hardship payment of £134.
March 22, 2019
Edward checked his online Universal Credit journal to see how much he will receive. He found he is due to receive £22. This will have to last him 37 days until 28 April.
Edward wrote a message through his journal asking for clarity on the situation as he doesn’t understand why the payment is so low.
March 25, 2019
Edward was told that there are still 18 days left of his penalty period – it will finish on 12 April – and after this his payments should go back to normal. When he asks if he can request a hardship payment, he is told he can do this on the 28th – the day he was due to receive his payment.
Today – 11 April 2019
Edward has repeatedly asked the Job Centre to help him by giving him enough money to budget his way through the next month and to get ID for an account.
He has been offered multiple jobs from October to now but has been unable to be accepted due to the lack of a bank account.
Edward feels he must take any job including manual work that will risk making his health worse where they might pay cash rather than require a bank account or ID to prove who he is.
Edward tells me he feels like an outcast in the country that he was born in and was once so proud of.
Edward is not his real name. He has asked for his name not to be disclosed.
