rights based, easy to understand and apply for, with the opportunity for face to face contact in the process non-judgemental, flexible, responsive to women’s additional caring responsibilities and valuing of women’s unpaid work provide a safety net to ensure all women have the means to survive and look after their children regardless of their immigration status knowledgeable of and responsive to domestic abuse and the impact on women and children’s health and wellbeing consistent in delivery, timescales and in taking responsibility for its mistakes and correcting them Universal Credit flexibilities All the women who took part in the sessions were unaware that Universal Credit is paid as a single household payment. They were horrified that this was how benefits will now be paid to couples and families. There was consensus that the payment would go to the male partner as he would feel entitled to the payment as of the household.” They “head described this as; really bad idea”, dangerous” a for disaster” and really “a “as “recipe “a scary thought.” In these discussions women highlighted how control of money was integral to their means of exerting control over themselves and their children. They saw this as giving men a way to much more easily control family finances and enabling of domestic abuse. In their experience the money would not be spent on maintaining the family and home instead women would end up having to repay the debts and loans that would result. there’s domestic abuse there’s no sharing. I had to provide him with receipts “When for everything I spent. I would be too scared to ask for money or ask him what the money was spent on.” was given a weekly budget, if I overspent then I had to ask to borrow off him and “I then pay him back out of the next week’s budget” Women were seriously concerned about the impact this would have on their children and how they would be able to adequately feed, clothe and provide for their children. will be really hungry” “children will be more child poverty where money is controlled, lots of kids won’t get “there what they need” be more reliant on foodbanks as women won’t have money to pay for food “We’ll – do you have to wait until it’s too late?”
rights based, easy to understand and apply for, with the opportunity for face to face contact in the process non-judgemental, flexible, responsive to women’s additional caring responsibilities and valuing of women’s unpaid work provide a safety net to ensure all women have the means to survive and look after their children regardless of their immigration status knowledgeable of and responsive to domestic abuse and the impact on women and children’s health and wellbeing consistent in delivery, timescales and in taking responsibility for its mistakes and correcting them Universal Credit flexibilities All the women who took part in the sessions were unaware that Universal Credit is paid as a single household payment. They were horrified that this was how benefits will now be paid to couples and families. There was consensus that the payment would go to the male partner as he would feel entitled to the payment as “head of the household.” They described this as; “a really bad idea”, “as dangerous” a “recipe for disaster” and “a really scary thought.” In these discussions women highlighted how control of money was integral to their means of exerting control over themselves and their children. They saw this as giving men a way to much more easily control family finances and enabling of domestic abuse. In their experience the money would not be spent on maintaining the family and home instead women would end up having to repay the debts and loans that would result. “When there’s domestic abuse there’s no sharing. I had to provide him with receipts for everything I spent. I would be too scared to ask for money or ask him what the money was spent on.” “I was given a weekly budget, if I overspent then I had to ask to borrow off him and then pay him back out of the next week’s budget” Women were seriously concerned about the impact this would have on their children and how they would be able to adequately feed, clothe and provide for their children. “children will be really hungry” “there will be more child poverty where money is controlled, lots of kids won’t get what they need” “We’ll be more reliant on foodbanks as women won’t have money to pay for food – do you have to wait until it’s too late?”
1610-social-security-engagement-events.docx