Universal Credit: denied and delayed
In this past campaign, we raised awareness of the barriers preventing people living with cancer from accessing Universal Credit. These included a complex application process leading to delayed payments.
Neil's experience of claiming UC
Neil, diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016
"I had to sit in front of the computer for six hours" - Neil, diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2016
About the campaign
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What's the problem?Universal Credit is a benefit available to people of working age. It replaced six separate welfare benefits, including Employment Support Allowance (ESA); an essential benefit often claimed by people with cancer who are too unwell to work.
Through conversations with the people Macmillan support and work with, we have heard that Universal Credit is too often not working for people with cancer. -
Key issues
- People who are applying for Universal Credit when they have cancer or are terminally ill should not face long waits or delays. They should receive their first payment as quickly as possible. We welcome the recent Autumn Budget announcement, which indicates extra funding could be used to help reduce these waiting times. We want to see this put into place urgently.
- Applying for Universal Credit is unnecessarily difficult, with less than half of people being able to complete their claim in one attempt.
- When the Government begins the next phase of moving people to Universal Credit, thousands more people with cancer could be at risk of facing these problems. And with more people receiving universal credit, it’s likely delays receiving claims will get worse.
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What we didAt Macmillan, we want to make sure people with cancer get all the support they need, when they need it the most. We offer financial support and guidance to help people with cancer to find their best way through when claiming support. But we can’t do it alone.
The welfare system should meet the needs of people with cancer who are too unwell to work. We campaigned to fix Universal Credit, because cancer is hard enough.
Our campaign made a difference
October 2018
- We identified that people with cancer were facing lengthy delays when waiting for Universal Credit payment. They have also been finding difficulty accessing and applying in the first instance.
- We launched a public campaign raising awareness of the issues that people have faced. Over 2,000 of our campaigners emailed their MP asking them to raise these concerns with the Minister.
- As a result, extra funding for Universal Credit was included in the Government’s Autumn Budget announcement. This could be used to reduce waiting times for payments.
November 2018
- We continued to keep up momentum with the campaign, raising awareness of Neil’s story and encouraging others to tell their story.
- After a series of changes in Government, Amber Rudd MP replaced Ester McVey as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
- Over 153 of our campaigners tweeted Amber Rudd directly welcoming her to the new role and asking her to address the issues that people with cancer face with Universal Credit.
Cancer - a costly diagnosis?
Our report highlights the real-life stories of the financial difficulties faced by people living with cancer. It also looks at what MPs and decision makers can do to fix it.
Read the report below to find out more.
