Protest over Universal Credit
Last month, trade unionists took part in the #UniversalDisCredit online day of action as part of a campaign by the Community section of the Unite union to reform the most punitive elements of Universal Credit (UC) and the wider welfare system.
The union said the continued use of benefit sanctions just as the country is entering a period of heavy and sustained job losses is “unnecessary and particularly cruel” and must be stopped.
In addition to the eradication of sanctions, Unite is calling for an end to the five-week wait for payment for UC claimants.
The union is also demanding that the temporary £20-a-week additional payment provided to UC and Working Tax Credits claimants to help during the pandemic is made permanent and provided to all benefit claimants.
Head of Unite Community Liane Groves said: “At the beginning of lockdown the government rightly stopped benefit sanctions. But it didn’t take long for that decision to be reversed, even though there is barely any employment to be found.
“When jobs are being destroyed across the country, the use of benefit sanctions is unnecessary and particularly cruel.”
She said that hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs during this crisis, “are learning for the first time what it is like to live under Britain’s brutal and discredited welfare system”.