This is simply wrong on every conceivable level. The basic premise of the Citizens Advice service is that they are able to provide free and impartial advice. How do they propose to do that when the Department of Work and Pensions are funding them to offer advice about their own broken and dysfunctional Universal Credit system? We don't intend to get involved in the background politics behind Universal Credit, that is outside of the remit of this site. But surely £51 million would be better spent providing support for the most needy in our society? Or simply fixing UC so that people unfortunate enough to be its victim can actually afford to feed themselves?

 

“From April 2019 Citizens Advice (CA) and Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) will receive a total of £51 million to help claimants with universal credit claims, the DWP has announced today. The DWP says that CA and CAS will be able to support claimants through every step of making a UC claim and managing their money when it arrives. The main focus will be on budgeting advice and digital support. The help will be provided via the Universal Support scheme which is currently administered by individual local authorities with grants provided by the DWP. £12 million is being provided to CA and CAS to set up the service by April 2019, with a further £39 million being paid from April onwards.

 

The funding may raise concerns about the ability of CA and CAS to campaign in relation to the failings of UC.”

 

 

Couresy of Benefits and Work Guilds you can trust