{"id":29981,"date":"2021-09-14T10:43:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T09:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=29981"},"modified":"2021-09-14T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T10:09:59","slug":"work-and-pensions-secretary-lives-on-a-different-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=29981","title":{"rendered":"Work and pensions secretary ‘lives on a different planet’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Work and pensions secretary Th\u0102\u00a9r\u0102\u00a8se Coffey has been accused of failing to understand Universal Credit and the implications of the impending \u00c2\u014120 a week cut that will leave 6m households more than \u00c2\u01411000 worse off each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coffey was slammed by Unite and others for being out of touch, when she recently suggested that families facing the cut \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the biggest overnight benefit cut since the Second World War — should simply work longer hours instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Coffey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m conscious that \u00c2\u014120 a week is about two hours\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 extra work every week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we will be seeing what we can do to help people perhaps secure those extra hours, but ideally also to make sure they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also in a place to get better paid jobs, as well.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But critics highlighted that this was not how the Universal Credit system works because of the taper that decreases UC payments for additional hours worked. The Universal Credit taper is set at 63 per cent, meaning that for every pound earned in work above the work allowance, the benefit is reduced by 63p.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted that Coffey \u00e2\u20ac\u015beither knows she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lying or shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be in the job\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAn additional \u00c2\u014120 for a UC claimant isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 2 hours work, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not how the taper works. An extra \u00c2\u014120 would require \u00c2\u014150+ worth of hours, that is how the UC system works,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Resolution Foundation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief executive Torsten Bell further broke down Coffey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claim, noting that a Universal Credit claimant who is in work and pays tax and National Insurance would have to work an astonishing nine extra hours a week to make up for the \u00c2\u014120 a week cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA single parent working three days a week, eight hours a day, on \u00c2\u014110 an hour, would need to increase their earnings by a third (working an extra eight hours) simply to stand still,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Bell added in a tweet. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (ludicrously) assuming no childcare costs.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bell went on to write, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe focus on working more hours also ignores the HUGE fact that many claimants are not able or expected to be in work in the first place: over one-in-four claimants are \u00e2\u20ac\u201c by the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own rules \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not expected to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 because, for example, they have a health problem or a young child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticism of the work and pension secretary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims comes as Unite Community is set to host an event outside Parliament in support of Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition day debate on Wednesday (September 14) which will force a vote on the \u00c2\u014120 a week cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding banners up that will read \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Keep our families fed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Food is not a luxury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, the Unite activists are standing up for the six million people in Britain who rely on Universal Credit to get by \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 40 per cent of whom are in work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charities estimate that one million households will lose 10 per cent of their income overnight when the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, snatches back the \u00c2\u014120 a week \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u01411,040 a year \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with one in four children made poorer as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking ahead of the event, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said,\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTh\u0102\u00a9r\u0102\u00a8se Coffey lives on a different planet to the rest of us if she thinks already hard-pressed people can work their way to make up for the \u00c2\u014120 being snatched from their household budget overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSomeone on Universal Credit bringing in \u00c2\u0141200 a week would need to earn an extra \u00c2\u014167 a week to make up the \u00c2\u014120 loss,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThen there will be additional childcare and travel costs so making up that stolen cash is impossible and the minister knows it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members have told us that the \u00c2\u014120 isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t paying for luxuries, but for food, children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shoes, school uniforms and warm clothes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe chancellor is making a deliberate and cruel decision to punish the country\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s working poor pushing six million people, over a third of which are already in work, into poverty and debt overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany of them have worked right through the pandemic – in social care, in the NHS and as refuse collectors – and they deserve so much better from this government than this assault on their already poverty-level incomes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Unite Community members will not rest in their determined efforts to fight against this needless hardship.  Tory ministers and MPs will never be allowed to forget what they are doing to our children and communities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned tomorrow (Wednesday, September 15) for UniteLive coverage of tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Universal Credit cut demo outside Parliament ahead of Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition day debate. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Hajera Blagg<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Work and pensions secretary Th\u0102\u00a9r\u0102\u00a8se Coffey has been accused of failing to understand Universal Credit and the implications of the impending \u00c2\u014120 a week cut that will leave 6m households more than \u00c2\u01411000 worse off each year. Coffey was slammed by Unite and others for being out of touch, when she recently suggested that families […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1446,462],"wps_subtitle":"DWP secretary Th\u0102\u00a9r\u0102\u00a8se Coffey slammed for suggesting families facing Universal Credit cut should simply work longer hours","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29981"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29986,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29981\/revisions\/29986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}