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Join the battle to end hunger in the UK

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End hunger in the UK, #FiveWeeksTooLong, Trussell Trust, foodbanks, campaign, Universal Credit should be fighting poverty, not forcing people to use food banks.

Everyone who applies for Universal Credit has to wait at least five weeks for a first payment – and some people wait longer.

This is leaving many people without enough money to cover the basics. Buying food, for example.

There are other problems with Universal Credit, but the five-week wait is one of the key reasons why food banks like those run by the Trussell Trust have seen a rise in people needing food banks where it has been rolled out.

One of the things Amber Rudd, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said when asked about the five-week wait for the first Universal Credit payment was “I don’t want people to have to go to food banks.”

That is why the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offers ‘Advance Payments’ to those struggling with the wait.

But because these ‘Advance Payments’ have to be repaid, they leave people between a rock and a hard place: no money now or not enough money later?

And that is why from July 2020 some benefits under the old system will carry on being paid for two weeks when you transfer over to Universal Credit.

But this still leaves a three-week gap, and, in the meantime, 1.6 million people are expected to move onto the new system without this support.

So people may still be forced to go to food banks as a result.

This is clearly not right.

The Trussell Trust’s new campaign is asking everyone who thinks five weeks is too long to join together with food banks, charities, faith and community groups, and show how damaging the wait is and demand change from Amber Rudd and her colleagues in the government.

Sign up now to join the campaign.

Join #5WeeksTooLong – here’s how you can help end the five-week wait for Universal Credit:

1 – Ask everyone who thinks five weeks is too long to join the campaign.

2 – Show politicians of all parties how damaging the wait is and get them to back the campaign.

3 – Together with other campaigners, food banks, charities, and faith and community groups, you’ll convince the government to end the wait.

The Trussell Trust will be doing more in the coming weeks to build pressure and make change, so sign up now and get involved…

Find out more on their website.

  1. A recent report by the think-tank Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JrF) has found that once the roll-out of Universal Credit is complete, 10.7 million people in “out of work families”, will be worse off. The report does say that 12.9 million in work, will benefit but, why are the most vulnerable taking the hit yet again? https://universalcreditsuffer.com/2019/02/27/jrf-10-7-million-people-will-be-worse-off-on-universal-credit/

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