Agenda item

Councillor M Gannon moved the following motion:

“This council recognises that the full service roll out of Universal Credit across Gateshead, which will occur over the next 6 months, will cause real hardship to many of Gateshead’s citizens.

The council is particularly concerned that this hardship will be compounded by the fact that claimants will have to wait a minimum of 6 weeks for their claim to be decided.

It is unacceptable that the children or parents, whose claims may eventually be approved, will not qualify for free school meals during the assessment period.

The council is additionally concerned that the requirement for online application discriminates against those without access to a computer or who do not have adequate IT skills.

The council instructs the Chief Executive to work with schools, partners and the community sector to explore every means possible to mitigate the inevitable hardship that UC will cause for Gateshead’s residents.

Council further instructs the Chief Executive to write to all Gateshead school Headteachers and Governors outlining the anticipated impacts of Universal Credit upon homelessness and child poverty, and whilst recognising current financial constraints upon schools request their assistance in ensuring that no children go hungry.

Furthermore Gateshead Council calls on the Governments to either reduce the 6 week waiting period for assessing universal credit claims and to introduce appropriate mitigation to ensure that vulnerable children do not go without free school meals, or to halt the introduction of UC until these issues are addressed.”

The following amendment was submitted:

(i)         Add (i) between ‘that’ and ‘this’ in line 1 of paragraph 2.

(ii)        Delete ‘.’ at end of paragraph 2 after ‘decided’ and add ‘;(ii) that

homelessness could increase as a result of rent no longer being paid directly to landlords.’

(iii)       Replace ‘or’ with ‘of’ in line 1 of paragraph 3.

(iv)       Add ‘DWP’ between ‘schools’ and ‘partners’ on line 1 of paragraph 5.

(v)        Replace ‘Governments’ with ‘Government’ in line 1 of paragraph 7.

The amendment was accepted by the mover of the original motion and therefore put as the substantive motion and duly carried.

COUNCIL RESOLVED          -          

This council recognises that the full service roll out of Universal Credit across Gateshead, which will occur over the next 6 months, will cause real hardship to many of Gateshead’s citizens.

The council is particularly concerned that (i) this hardship will be compounded by the fact that claimants will have to wait a minimum of 6 weeks for their claim to be decided; (ii) that homelessness could increase as a result of rent no longer being paid directly to landlords.

It is unacceptable that the children of parents, whose claims may eventually be approved, will not qualify for free school meals during the assessment period.

The council is additionally concerned that the requirement for online application discriminates against those without access to a computer or who do not have adequate IT skills.

The council instructs the Chief Executive to work with schools, DWP, partners and the community sector to explore every means possible to mitigate the inevitable hardship that UC will cause for Gateshead’s residents.

Council further instructs the Chief Executive to write to all Gateshead school Headteachers and Governors outlining the anticipated impacts of Universal Credit upon homelessness and child poverty, and whilst recognising current financial constraints upon schools request their assistance in ensuring that no children go hungry.

Furthermore Gateshead Council calls on the Government to either reduce the 6 week waiting period for assessing universal credit claims and to introduce appropriate mitigation to ensure that vulnerable children do not go without free school meals, or to halt the introduction of UC until these issues are addressed.