Concern as legacy benefit claimants to be moved to Universal Credit in NI

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Claimants are concerned about falling into rent arrears, debt and having the IT skills and access to use the Universal Credit System

Concerns have been raised over how thousands of legacy benefit claimants will cope as they are due to be moved to Universal Credit in the coming months.

Along with the concerns of advisors and legacy benefit claimants, the report also found that a majority of Universal Credit claimants , 69%, had to take out an advanced loan when starting on the all-in-one benefit system and more than half, 53%, had fallen into rent arrears. “UC is like no other benefit we have seen before. It is a digital benefit which means people must apply for and manage their claim online. That will require claimants to have a level of digital skills as well as access to the Internet and a digital device. This will be a challenge for many. Other challenges involve the monthly Assessment Period, the five week wait for the first payment, the claimant commitment with ongoing conditionality and risk of sanctions.

Just over half of claimants believed they would go into debt moving to Universal Credit and just under half were concerned about having access to a computer or IT skills in order to use the benefit system. This was also a concern for advisors who said that under the legacy benefit system they could contact departments on a claimants behalf, but they cannot under Universal Credit.

 

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