Applying for universal credit...AAAARRRGGGHHHH!
 

I had to do this yesterday, since my poor wif'es SSP stops on 07/01/2019.

Took me almost an hour. They INSISTED I applied too. HOW many times do I need to input my postcode????????

And then, two lots of veryfying identity...another half hour.

No wonder folk are complaining. I should have told them my name was Dzerczinskivic and I was fresh off the boat...they'd have been chucking money at me!

And now we BOTH have to attend at seperate times for interview. At least I've put a block on that and they will either do it by telephone or come to us.

You know that is simply not true!

The principle of universal credit is actually pretty good - a single payment paid in arrears just like you would get when your working and its up to you to budget and manage your finances responsibly.

The problem is the implementation of the scheme is an absolute cock-up (seemingly as to be expected from this government), that is a total ball ache to apply for, overly complicated and with many errors leading to delayed or reduced payments.

I sympathise with your situation and hope you and your wife get the benefits you deserve with the minimum hassle, although I hope this also opens your eyes to the real, self inflicted problems the UK faces that have nothing to do with immigration or EU membership!

Can you do polish accent ?

Bit late now , even if could - the cash has dried up

Lucky theyre coming out to you though , hope they make proper assessment

but giving people who are clearly vunarble and possibly not able to budget there finances properly for various reason the responsibly of paying all there bills on time (rent being the main one) isn't a very good idea in my view as a lot of these people will be out of work due to not being able to complete normal daily tasks ,,then if they are not great at budgeting your asking them to chose between rent or possibly not eating ,,, program on the telly the other night about this exact thing

There, there, no need to worry, it will all be better after Brexit.

I saw the same program.

The thing is, I don't think the government should be managing peoples budget for them by paying their rent directly etc. Everybody should be capable of managing a budget, its a basic requirement for anybody who lives independently. There are studies that show that peoples inability/inexperience of managing a budget result in them struggling when they do work and leads to quickly returning to unemployment and benefits. This is where the implementation however is critical and has been an absolute disaster! There are genuinely people who are currently incapable of managing their budgets and you cannot expect such people to cope with a sudden change to unerversal credit with no help or training on how to manage their finances. People need the help to adjust to the new system, but I don't accept that with the correct help, that people can't learn how to manage their budgets. After help and training, if they still choose to blow their money on cigarettes, alchohol and sky TV over paying their rent and buying food, then that's their own fault!

but it would cost the government a fortune to try and train people that might have a genuine reason for not being able to budget ,, would be easier and cheaper in the long run to just pay the rent direct to the councils or home owners,, its not really budgeting for them its just making sure that someone who may be vunrable has a place to live without the work of being evicted because you forget to pay the rent on time , then there wouldn't be so many people being made homeless based on not being able to budget there money ,,,, you can't expect a drug addict to do the right thing and pay there rent can you lol