The full roll out of Universal Credit, the governments plan to collapse six welfare benefits into one, was delayed in early January. This followed mounting concerns by MPs and months of trenchant criticism of its design, including from the UNs special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
These criticisms are warranted and important. Yet the concept of Universal Credit, and its approach to debt, reveals something wider about the UKs current political moment.
Taken at face value, Universal Credit has a seemingly innocent meaning. Credit simply means a payment made to your account. Universal means that it replaces previously separate benefits payments with a singular one that should fit all requirements. On this official …
Read the full article at: http://theconversation.com/how-universal-credit-perpetuates-the-false-equation-between-public-and-private-debt-105686