PLANS to make benefit payments monthly risk driving families into the arms of loan sharks, ministers were warned yesterday.
Iain Duncan Smith announced the move as part of a shake-up which will also see migrants forced to learn English to get benefits.
The Work and Pensions Secretary says paying cash once a month instead of fortnightly will help people learn to budget properly and prepare them for work.
But Citizens Advice hit back, warning it could “lead to rent arrears and further debt problems”.
And Labour MP Kate Green said it will force people to borrow if they are faced with unexpected bills.
Mr Duncan Smith insisted the change, due with the launch of Universal Credit in 2013, will make jobseekers more comfortable with the prospect of being paid once a month by employers.
When I first saw this yesterday on the BBC News website, and then later while listening to the debate in the House of Lords heard some of the honourable peers criticising removing payments under the crisis & budgeting loan schemes and Community care grants the first thing that came into my mind that the government were basically gifting the profits to be made out of hundreds of thousand of short term 30 day loans into the hands of the banks and finance companies and the more I think about it, the more certain I am that this is what will be.
It’s bad enough when you make a claim for benefit at a time when your income is being greatly reduced to a bare minimum the government estimate you can live off that you have to get into even an interest free debt that has to be paid out from your meagre benefits, but the future looks increasingly like it is going to be worse, that instead of having to borrow the money to survive for 2 weeks interest free off the DWP while your first money comes through, in the future you are going to have to borrow 30 days money with you having to pay interest on that loan, interest that will only go towards swelling the bank and finance companies profits and the bonuses of their executives, (the friends of Cameron & Clegg of course).
As I keep saying, you couldn’t make it up, all the government are doing is pimping out the misery of the poor so that private enterprise and the rich can profit from it.
What a clever day to announce it too, when all eyes are on the HoL’s debate?
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They will point out that this is exactly the same problem that working people face (which it is) as most jobs pay a month in hand. They could ameliorate this somewhat if they allow the months notice most people have to work to also be the “signing on” period, but of course that still leaves people who dont start from a “losing job” position. Paying benefits monthly would certainly sync up better with most billing dates and direct debits though. I find its asn utter ball-ache to kieep track of what I’m paying, not because there isn’t enough money, but because when I get paid is spread out in such a foolish way. Of course paying monthly would point up exactly how much of a pittance JSA is, but that should already be obvious. My solution is to pay JSA as close to the first day of the claim as possible, perhaps via “loan” or “grant”.
Of course monthly budgeting is substantially easier if you are being paid a realistic monthly wage…
Isn’t the benefits system intended to be a safety net rather than a Tory, Atos Macht Free, social engineering weapon?