This website uses cookies for anonymised analytics and for account authentication. See our privacy and cookies policies for more information.





The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

TFN is published by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Mansfield Traquair Centre, 15 Mansfield Place, Edinburgh, EH3 6BB. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Registration number SC003558.

Universal Credit creating serious public health threat

This news post is over 5 years old
 

Links between the new system and public health is exposed in new report

Universal Credit is causing a serious public health threat with some claimants so affected by its issues they have contemplated suicide.

A report compiled by public health researchers discovered that vulnerable claimants were experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression while the new system was also linked to physical problems and social isolation.

“Universal Credit is not only failing to achieve its stated aim of moving people into employment, it is punishing people to such an extent that the mental health and wellbeing of claimants, their families and of support staff is being undermined,” the report stated.

One respondent told researchers: “When you feel like ‘I can’t feed myself, I can’t pay my electric bill, I can’t pay my rent,’ well, all you can feel is the world collapsing around you. It does a lot of damage, physically and mentally … there were points where I did think about ending my life.”

The research was initially commissioned by Gateshead council because universal credit is having such a negative impact on the local population. Alice Wiseman, the director of public health at Gateshead Council, said: “I consider Universal Credit, in the context of wider austerity, as a threat to the public’s health.”

Next week the UN’s investigator on poverty, Philip Alston, is expected to publish a report of the impact of austerity in the UK after collecting evidence on the effects of council spending cuts, welfare reform and universal credit during a two-week tour of the country’s poorest areas.

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “This survey of 33 claimants doesn’t match the broader experience of more than 9,000 people receiving universal credit in Gateshead, who are taking advantage of its flexibility and personalised support to find work.

“We have just announced a £4.5 billion package of support so people can earn £1,000 more before their credit payment begins to be reduced, and we are providing an additional two weeks’ payments for people being moved from the old system.”