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Nottingham Labour

Conservative Councillors voted against Nottingham Labour’s call for a pause to Universal Credit.

Conservative Councillors voted against Nottingham Labour’s motion calling on the Government to pause the rollout of Universal Credit before it hits our City, supporting a Government policy which is pushing more people into debt and homelessness.

Given the failures identified by pilot schemes and concerns raised by the Work and Pensions Committee, we have  urged the Government to pause the roll-out of Universal Credit full service before it is imposed on the citizens of Nottingham.

Currently 2785 people in Nottingham are on Universal Credit, with the full service roll out to be imposed on Nottingham by 2022, which will affect nearly 60,000 city residents. Multiple failures have already been exposed by pilot schemes across the country, with places like Newcastle seeing one in five people waiting longer than six weeks to receive their benefits, and nearly 3000 people pushed into rent arrears as a result. Research has established that Universal Credit will eventually reach more than one in four working-age households and families of which more than half of these will be in work. Ultimately, the people likely to be most affected are disabled people including those with mental health problems and those in low-paid work.

The Parliamentary Work and Pensions Committee has criticised the scheme, with the committee accusing the Government of withholding bad news on the scale of problems caused by Universal Credit, amid growing concern that the changes are forcing more people into debt and poverty.

We’ve only had a limited experience of Universal Credit so far in Nottingham but we’re already seeing rent arrears rising along with more debt problems. The Government needs to see sense and pause the full introduction of Universal Credit in Nottingham .

By voting against our motion, Conservative Councillors have shown disregard for the thousands of Nottingham people that will be made poorer as a result of Universal Credit.