Resolution on Universal Credit

This resolution was submitted by Bakerloo branch and passed unanimously by RMT Disabled Members' Advisory Committee on 12 November.

We note that:

  1. in areas where Universal Credit has been in place for 12 months or more, food banks are four times as busy
  2. 40% of people in receipt of UC are in work, and are an average of £2,600 per year worse off
  3. the Child Poverty Action Group estimates that by 2022, a million children and 900,000 adults will have been driven into poverty by UC
  4. there has been a sharp increase in the number of claimants being sanctioned (having their benefits taken away), including disabled people who are not fit for work
  5. TUC Disabled Workers' Conference policy calling for Universal Credit to be stopped and scrapped

We believe that:

  1. Universal Credit is an attack on the welfare benefits system, and on the right of everyone - especially disabled people - to a decent standard of living
  2. opposition to UC is growing, including from disability activists and groups, forcing the Tory government onto the defensive on this issue
  3. working people and benefit claimants have shared interests, and we deplore right-wing efforts to turn us against each other We ask the union to actively support the campaign to stop and scrap Universal Credit.