Universal Credit Begins in Shotton this week.

Universal Credit has now started in Shotton, as far as we could tell there were no fanfares or cheerleaders for the launch of the Government’s flagship program as doors opened on Monday at Shotton Jobcentre. 

The new credit system has kicked in for those in Deeside unlucky enough to be making a new claim from this week will be the first in Wales to claim the new Universal Credit,  UC combines six existing working age benefits into one single payment.

#JobsSummitWales held in the week that will see jobseekers in Shotton, N.Wales start to claim the Government’s new Universal Credit benefit.

— Wales Office (@walesoffice) April 7, 2014

Those included in the Shotton pilot scheme will be single unemployed people served by the Shotton Job Centre.

The Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) who administer the scheme, say the Job centre will initially process around 50 claims a month.

Later in the year the scheme will be extended to include unemployed claimants who have a partner.

Flintshire County Council will be working with the DWP to offer support for vulnerable claimants to make and sustain their Universal Credit claim.

The Council’s Housing Benefits team will also be supporting those with complex housing benefit cases.

In November last year the Citizens advice warned Too little has been done to prepare claimants for a new benefit system.

The Citizens Advice warning came after a survey found almost half felt unready to claim online and 22% did not have the right banking facilities.

The charity said conversations with more than 1,000 clients in affected parts of the country exposed a dramatic lack of help for people struggling to cope with the shake-up.

More than one in five did not have access to direct debits and bill payments and other banking services needed to claim the new payments, they found.

Some 49% said they would struggle with online forms – with 47% having no home internet.

A petition asking the DWP to fund a national communications campaign to raise awareness about Welfare Reform has recently been launched in Wales.

The organisers argue that £8.1m has been spent on a celebrity endorsed ‘We’re all in’ campaign around pension automatic enrolment.

The TV element ran for a month and cost £3.5 million, The Pension Minister admitted at the time:

“People should know that all they need to do is look out for a letter from their employer.”

Yet there has been no such awareness campaigns for the benefits changes, you can read more here http://www.change.org/

A DWP spokesperson said;

“Universal Credit will see around 200,000 people in Wales better off by an average of £163 a month…It’s always been the case that passported benefits will continue to be delivered to claimants during the start of the introduction of Universal Credit…We are working with the Welsh Government to ensure that passported benefits will continue to be available to those who need them the most and that the system is fair and easy to understand.”