275,000 of the poorest households in Wales will see their income cut next month as part of UK Government plans to axe Universal Credit by £80 per month. Join the protest next Thursday at 6.00pm, Bute Park Cardiff
Image: Kay Harris, who will lose almost £90 each month due to the cut, by Tom Davies
A woman has described how she will have to drastically cut back on heating her home this winter if the cut to Universal Credit goes ahead.
Kay Harris, from Betws, near Bridgend, says that she is due to lose £86.65 each month from the beginning of October because of the move.
“I won’t be able to have the heating on for long in the winter because I won’t have the money to pay for it. It’s just wrong what they are doing to people,” she told voice.wales.
Kay, pictured above, is a member of the Unite Community branch, which organises people not in work, and was taking part in a demonstration outside The Senedd as MSs were debating the cut, which is being brought in by the Tory UK Government.
She said that her monthly income as things currently stand is just £628, but will now go down to £541. Out of this small monthly income, she has to pay for everything: food, gas, electricity, rent and anything else that comes up like clothing or a bus fayre.
Kay has already been hit by the bedroom tax in 2013, as she was financially penalised because she had a spare room.
“How are they expecting people to live?” she asked. Kay is most worried about the effect on children. “My boys have grown up now, but there are people on low incomes with children that need that money and it’s being taken away from them.”
She also highlights the fact that many people simply have no idea that this cut is happening, or have only been informed at the last minute by the government.
The cut will have a disproportionately high impact on Wales, anti poverty groups have said. Almost a half of all households in Wales with children will see their budget cut by £1040 per year as part of the UK-wide cutback.
In total, the Tory UK Government’s decision to end the £20 per week uplift in Universal Credit, which also affects those receiving working tax credits, will hit 275,000 of the poorest households in Wales.
Also protesting outside the Senedd was Alan Short, the chair of the Unite Community branch, who lives in Bridgend.
He described an encounter he had with a woman in the area who told him how the cut would affect her.
The woman is in her mid thirties and has two young children. Like over 100,000 people affected by the cut in Wales, she is also working – as a low paid carer.
“I asked if she’d like to sign the petition to keep the £20 uplift for families on Universal Credit,” Alan told voice.wales. “She virtually snatched it out of my hand.”
“She said, ‘this is what it means to me…I now have to suffer the shame and embarrassment about going down to food banks, you probably don’t know how I feel when I have to do that”.
Alan said that many others had approached him who’s family members, many working part time on low wages, were going to be impacted. Some were out of work however, and told him they had to live on just £72 a week as a single person.
“There’s no real life for them like that,” Alan said.
Sarah Murphy, Labour MS for Bridgend, was also protesting outside The Senedd and condemned the cut.
“What I’m saying is food is not a luxury, the £20 for everyone on Universal Credit has been so important,” she said.
“Why are we ripping that away from them, why are we pushing them further into poverty? It is completely cruel and unnecessary… We are here today campaigning to call on the UK government to stop this madness.”
But activists have also said that Welsh Labour must do more in power to fight the cut and tackle poverty in Wales, with the country having the highest rate of child poverty anywhere in the UK.
Sue Leader, secretary of the Unite Community branch, said they were asking the Welsh Government to “aid people on universal credit.”
“We want them to mitigate the £20 that is being taken away by extending free school meals,” she said, in reference to the fact that around 70,000 children in households on Universal Credit in Wales do not qualify for Free School Meals.
Sue Leader called on the Welsh Government to raise the threshold at which people can receive free school meals, saying how the current threshold of £7,400 per household was “extraordinarily low” and means that many of those in poverty miss out.
The Tory government in Westminster controls welfare payments and sets the amount of public money Welsh Government receives.
After 10 years of austerity, Wales is in the midst of a major poverty crisis which is set to worsen. The cost of essentials such as central heating and food could rise significantly over winter just as the poorest are having a huge cut to their monthly income.
The cut to Universal Credit is ultimately coming from Tory UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak. He also happens to be Britain’s richest MP, who together with his multi millionaire wife owns four properties, including one in London worth £7millon.
Previously, the UK Government has been defeated over welfare cuts during the pandemic, and activists are fighting for a U-Turn on Universal Credit, something which is helped by the huge levels of opposition to the cut.Unite Community, along with other groups, are staging a ‘march against poverty’ on Thursday 30th September, to protest the Universal Credit cut and demand justice for all those who’s living standards have been decimated by poverty. The event will take place on Thursday 30th September, Bute Park Stone Circle, Bute Park, Cardiff.
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