There are those who would (as Radio 4's Reunion reminded us the other week) still argue that Margaret Thatcher’s Poll Tax might have worked – might even have proved popular – if it had been phased in slowly as originally advised. Instead everything got done in one fell swoop & the result was rioting in the streets.
It is hard not to fear that the new Universal (welfare) Credit will also bring trauma in its wake; at one fell swoop the rules which govern entitlement will change, a complex new computer system will be introduced, payments will be made only monthly instead of fortnightly & all applications will have to be made on line.
Scant details are available of how claimants who do not have their own computer will make & manage their claim – the DWP website promises, rather vaguely, that claimants who cannot access the internet or use a computer will be helped maybe in a high street outlet or via a telephone service. Yesterday, on the BBC radio news, a spokesman was suggesting that ‘volunteers’ who have their own laptops could visit claimants in their homes to help them out – one assumes they have thought through the implications for online security, & have checked that these generous volunteers will not need to be CRB checked before visiting vulnerable people in their own homes.
And there is to be a pilot test of the scheme, a whole six months before the system goes national. This time some of the poorest areas of Greater Manchester are to take Scotland’s place as guinea pigs.
Well maybe the whole scheme will work like a dream, the user interface will be simple, intuitive & foolproof, even for those who left school without a certificate to attest that they had reached the required levels of literacy & numeracy. If it doesn’t maybe some savvy internet guru will come up with a whizzy visual app for smartphone or tablet that will help.
Those who have expressed worries about the ability of claimants to cope with the move to monthly payment have been met with vague promises on training in how to manage a budget – with emphasis of course on the special expertise needed to balance priorities on a very tight cashflow
As if all these changes were not enough there will be only one payee per household, who will be expected to allocate spending between those for whom they are intended. One wonders who will decide who counts as a member of each household, whether DWP have come up with their own rules to apply or whether claimants will have the option to nominate the person they think best able to manage that responsibility.
All this treads on the very delicate ground of financial arrangements within families. Even where both partners have well-paid jobs, each may prefer to keep some of their finances entirely private. At the other end of the spectrum there is the woman I knew whose husband refused to pay her poll tax: ‘It’s your tax, you’ll have to find a way to pay it.’
We shall just have to keep our fingers crossed that the all will go well, & it does not end up having to be abandoned & replaced, at very great expense, which we simply no longer have the money to finance
Links
BBC Radio 4 Reunion: Poll tax
Early roll out of Universal Credit to go live in Manchester and Cheshire
