division_name: Universal Credit Roll-Out
motion: <p class="indent" pid="a859.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House calls on the Government to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit full service.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a861.3/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;have priority debts such a rent or council tax, putting them at greater risk of eviction, visits from bailiffs, being cut off from energy supplies and even prison&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a862.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;error in administration and the structure of the system itself, single parents have been threatened with eviction and jobs have been put at risk&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a862.1/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;it&#8217;s very stressful, single parents quite often have enough stress and worry about money; and other things, bringing up your children to start with and it&#8217;s exacerbated by this very unfair, very unjust system&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a862.1/11" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Universal credit was designed to be more generous to couples than single people, with lone parents in particular expected to lose out compared with tax credits. This was a deliberate reaction to the decision, within tax credits, to boost support for lone parents in comparison with couples because of their higher risk of poverty and the greater difficulty of increasing earnings from work if you are a lone parent.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a862.1/13" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Since its initial design, universal credit has been subject to a succession of changes and cuts which have substantially reduced its adequacy overall&#8230; As a result, it is now less generous than the system it is replacing, and no longer offers the promise of reducing poverty.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a864.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;simplify the current complex rules which have been prone to error and complex and confusing for disabled people&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a864.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;seven different premiums with a simpler, two-tier system that focuses support on the most severely disabled people who are least able to work&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a864.4/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;This system does not allow for the fluctuations in income that are experienced by the self-employed. Surely an assessment made on a year&#8217;s profits would be much fairer.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a874.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;some of the measures set out today&#8212;particularly the universal credit&#8212;are very welcome&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a876.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;financial hardship and distress caused by lengthy waits before the first payment of UC is received, compounded by the 7-day &#8216;waiting period&#8217; for which no benefit is paid; some, particularly vulnerable claimants, struggling to adapt to single, monthly payments in arrears; inflexible rules governing Alternative Payment Arrangements such as direct payment of rent to landlords;&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a876.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;increases in rent arrears, with serious consequences not only for claimants but also for local authorities and housing providers, as a result of exposure to greater financial risk&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a882.3/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Universal credit has the potential to dramatically improve the welfare system, which is fragmented, difficult to navigate and can trap people in poverty.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a882.3/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;transition into work and will respond better to people&#8217;s changing circumstances.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a886.1/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;operationally messy, socially unfair and unforgiving&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a905.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;sizeable impact for a policy of this nature.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a908.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Gloucester City Homes has evicted one in eight of all of its tenants&#8221;.&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2017-10-11">11 October</phrase> 2017; Vol. 629, c. 324.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a910.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the systems do not work as intended, causing problems for claimants, employers and the Department&#8230; there were serious problems with system performance&#8230; which affected stability; speed; and availability.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a910.0/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the potential to be the most significant welfare reform since 1948&#8230; It promises to break the cycle of people stuck in low pay, low prospects employment.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a918.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Universal Credit remains the right thing to do&#8230; and the prospect of an integrated benefit system that responds to people&#8217;s changing circumstances is a prize worth having.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a918.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;an important tool for tackling poverty&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a922.1/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Please be aware that in Northern Ireland, if the third party knows or believes that a relevant offence (such as rape) has been committed, the third party will normally have a duty to inform the police of any information that is likely to secure, or to be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of someone for that offence.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a924.3/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a country and its economy does not function&#8230;if the people who run the engine cannot afford to operate it. We need every teaching assistant, care worker, cleaner and shop worker&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2017-10-20">20 October</phrase> 2015; Vol. 600, c. 874.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a925.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;this is happening to quite a lot of people.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a925.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I have a daughter, I am a single parent trying to make an honest living, and this is how I am being treated.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a938.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It pains me to say but last week the stress of everything got too much and I attempted to take my own life. I don&#8217;t know what else I can do feeling like this and getting constantly fobbed off by the UC. My wife informed them of my attempt on the 11/10/17 and still haven&#8217;t heard anything.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a944.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;sorry history of procuring an IT system for the new universal credit&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a947.3/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We do not have quality assured data on the payment cycles of universal credit claimants who are in work or for those who were in work before they claimed.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="a953.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="a953.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 299, Noes 0.</p>