Universal Credit is confirmed - bad for your health !!!

The stress caused by the failings of Universal Credit has caused a 'spike' in people requiring access to mental health consultations.

Now There's Medical Evidence Universal Credit Is Bad For People's Health
Nine-year study reveals spike in "psychological distress" among unemployed claimants.

There is now medical evidence that the implementation of Universal Credit has led to a decline in people’s mental health.

A nine-year study published on Thursday by the Lancet Public Health Journal shows the controversial welfare reforms have led to an increase in the prevalence of mental health issues among unemployed recipients.


Not only that, but with 5.5m more people expected to move on to the system in the coming years, there could be a flood of demand around the corner for already stretched mental health and social care services.

The Lancet researchers followed more than 52,000 working-age people from England, Wales and Scotland – and the findings revealed the introduction of Universal Credit was associated with a 6.6% increase in the prevalence of “psychological distress”.

Recipients of the benefit, which combines the six former main welfare payments into one, have reported struggling to make ends meet while waiting weeks on end for their first initial payout, forcing them to resort to turning off their heating or visiting foodbanks.

“Our study supports growing calls for Universal Credit to be fundamentally modified to reduce these mental health harms,” said Dr Sophie Wickham from the University of Liverpool, which led the research.

“So far, the government has only looked at the impact of Universal Credit on the labour market, and there are no plans to assess its effect on health and wellbeing.

“With a further 5.5m recipients of existing benefits expected to claim Universal Credit over the next few years, this expanding group may exacerbate pressures on already stretched mental health and social care services.”

The Department for Work and Pensions insisted the study didn’t prove a link between Universal Credit and distress.


Anthony Devlin via Getty Images
A foodbank volunteer stores donations at St John's Church before distributing them to local foodbanks in Stalybridge.
Experts say the number of people reporting mental health problems in the study would equate to an estimated 63,674 out-of-work people experiencing “clinically significant” levels of psychological distress nationally, of whom more than a third (21,760) may have become clinically depressed.

The government is currently investigating 69 suicides believed to be linked to the overhaul of the benefits system.

By the end of the study in 2018, 1.6m people were receiving Universal Credit in England, Scotland and Wales, including 73% of unemployed people. That number has since risen to around 2.3m.

It is the first to quantify the possible impact of Universal Credit on mental health – but its authors cautioned that the benefit was implemented as part of broader welfare changes that may also have contributed to the mental health toll.

Researchers analysed data from 197,111 interviews with 52,187 people of working age as part of the Understanding Society UK Longitudinal Household Panel Study.

Mental health was assessed by trained interviewers using the General Health Questionnaire, with a higher score indicating psychological distress. Participants were also asked about their employment status, where they lived, and personal demographics.

The researchers found all socioeconomic groups were affected similarly, but said the mental health of people with low levels of education was more likely to be affected by the reform, because they are more likely to be unemployed.


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DWP headquarters in Westminster.
Report co-author Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead said: “Given the mounting evidence of substantial mental health harms related to Universal Credit, it is crucial that the government conducts a robust health impacts assessment of all welfare reforms, including Universal Credit.

“With nearly two thirds of households in the UK receiving some kind of welfare benefit, any changes to the welfare system – even those with small individual effects – could have major implications for the nation’s health.”

The authors particularly questioned the five-week wait for initial payments and sanctions for those who deemed not to have met their conditions for receiving the benefit.

They said future studies should also be carried out on other groups of people, including those in work.

The DWP spokesperson added: “People coming to the Jobcentre are often doing so at a difficult time in their lives, and there is a range of support available for those with mental health conditions.

“We know that the vast majority of people on Universal Credit are satisfied with their experience.”

 

Of course it's bad, and it's run by a bunch of lying scumbags who don't give a shit! originally the assessments were carried out by ATOS, people kicked off because they were not doing them properly, so the government said it would get rid of them and it did, it replaced them with another one, a subsidiary of ATOS!
I was diagnosed with mental health problems, I got no money for 3 years, despite several doctors saying I was unfit for work, I had several documented suicide attempts before finally they agreed to give me benefits, £43 a week, this was reduced to £34 pounds a week a year later, as I was deemed to be getting better, this was based on a telephone assessment.
Once again they stopped it, I appealed and went to an interview, the assessor was a paramedic, and having experience of this kind of thing, she agreed I was unfit for work, she was open and honest. However a year later I was called in again, the assessor said he was a mental health professional, and on we went, despite having had another suicide attempt in the interim, he deemed me fit for work! my dodctor requested a copy of his report and after reading it queried whether the guy had ever met me.
He stated that I had arrived at the interview, well dressed and clean shaven and I was confident and chatty throughout and that I had expressed a desire to get back into full-time work.
At the time of the interview I was at such a low ebb that I'd not shaved or showered for over a month, I had worn the same clothes for a week, and sat quietly in the interview, all I wanted to do was go home, I wasn't chatty, and certainly didn't express a desire to get back to work, I knew full well I wasn't capable of doing it! another lie he told was that he was a mental health professional, he was actually a physiotherapist!
I appealed the decision and lost, so in te end I was forced to go back to work even though I was far from ready, it didn't end well.
A mate of mine had an assessment, lost, appealed, lost, appealed again, finally it went to the high court, he was assessed by a panel of doctors and the decision made by a high court judge, based on their findings, not only did he have a range of complex physical problems, he also had a history of severe mental health issues too, in fact the judge noted that he was amazed he hadn't been locked away!
Grudgingly they started to pay him benefits, and would you believe it, a year later they tried to throw him off them after another assessment, by a physiotherapist!
The whole thing is not fit for purpose, one old lady with severely impaired mobility was told her interview was on the first floor of a building, with no lift, when she said she wouldn't be able to make it as she couldn't climb stairs, they told her if she didn't they stop her money.
It took her over an hour to climb those stairs, a lady in her late 60's with emphysemia, severe chronic arthritis, and a damaged hip that was deemed inoperable due to her other medical conditions. She later received a letter saying her benefits were being stopped as she was clearly not sick enough to need them as she'd been able to climb the stairs! The biggest kick came later, she told them how long it had took her to climb them, this was verified by the concierge at the main entrance, she was then informed that she should have used the lift! They did have one, they just told people they didn't and threatened then with loss of benefits so they could declare them as fit!
Please excuse my language, but these people are a mercinary shower of bastards who'd sell there own grandmothers, if they had a buyer!

 

Phil matey, I can repeat this 1000 times over. I was a founder member of a neighbourhood Law Centre and used to provide advice and representation at DWP interviews and Tribunal hearings. On one occasion, following a DLA claim, the DWP used to hire local (retired) doctors to carry out examinations and complete the report for the Department. After one examination I discovered that this doctor did not complete the report himself but it was completed by his office manager - a clear breach of patient confidentiality, besides which it could not be said that the opinions in the report were truly that of the Doctor. Having challenged the validity of this report the DWP sought further information from the doctor who confirmed that he agreed with the opinion and the DWP wanted me to accept that as a valid report. I replied that of course they had written evidence to confirm this (knowing full well that they didn't) !!!. I took my complaint even higher and conjectured that since I'd caught one doctor doing this, how many others were doing so too. This necessitated a complaint and investigation by the public affairs committee of the House of Commons. Months later they told me there was no further evidence of other doctors doing this ( I didn't and still don't believe them !!!) but without any further evidence couldn't prove it. However I forced the DWP to withdraw their instructions to doctors conducting examinations, re-write those instructions and ban anyone but the doctor themselves from writing DLA reports.

 

Quite, I've spoken to doctors who've point blank refused to have anything to do with it, as one said, "we're here to help our patients, not help others to pile even more pressure on sick individuals"