Now There's Medical Evidence Universal Credit Is Bad For People's Health
There is now medical evidence that the implementation of Universal Credit has led to a decline in people’s mental health.
A nine-year study published on Thursday by the Lancet Public Health Journal shows the controversial welfare reforms have led to an increase in the prevalence of mental health issues among unemployed recipients.
Not only that, but with 5.5m more people expected to move on to the system in the coming years, there could be a flood of demand around the corner for already stretched mental health and social care services.
The Lancet researchers followed more than 52,000 working-age people from England, Wales and Scotland – and the findings revealed the introduction of Universal Credit was associated with a 6.6% increase in the prevalence of “psychological distress”.
Recipients of the benefit, which combines the six former main welfare payments into one, have reported struggling to make ends meet while waiting weeks on end for their first initial payout, forcing them to resort to turning off their heating or visiting foodbanks.
“Our study supports growing calls for Universal Credit to be fundamentally modified to reduce these mental health harms,” said Dr Sophie Wickham from the University of Liverpool, which led the research.
“So far, the government has only looked at the impact of Universal Credit on the labour market, and there are no plans to assess its effect on health and wellbeing.
“With a further 5.5m recipients of existing benefits expected to claim Universal Credit over the next few years, this expanding group may exacerbate pressures on already stretched mental health and social care services.”
The Department for Work and Pensions insisted the study didn’t prove a link between Universal Credit and distress.
Experts say the number of people reporting mental health problems in the study would equate to an estimated 63,674 out-of-work people experiencing “clinically significant” levels of psychological distress nationally, of...
