Universal Credit debt

singsong1970

I was homeless for 3yrs and Plymouth BCHA was kind enough to house me in shared housing and helped me claim benefits and housing benefit. I have mental health illness and tried numerous occasions to kill myself until depression and personality disorder meds stabilised me. So life became bearable. 
Things really looked up  when I viewed and got a local property, due to already being on HB & ESA i was told transition would be easy and worry free. This was Dec 2019 and it wasn't until the end of Feb 2020 i was told i had to change to Universal Credit before they'd pay my rent. So I had to make a new claim which took 6 weeks to process during which time i racked up a rent debt of £890,40. To add insult to injury they only paid one month arrears leaving me with a debt of £620,70 just for moving in to a new home and changing my benefit, enough to make someone like me feel suicidal. They really don't care about how much they hurt you in change over, i lost £200 pm & racked up a rent debt of huge amount just to housed due to vulnerability and find myself unable to sleep properly due to worry which i never had before and would not have signed up to had i known. 
Universal credit is a homeless making, suicide provoking slap in the face robbery which is legitimate due to the pound note pinching, law breaking untouchables who run the whole fiasco 

steve51

Hi @singsong1970

Good Afternoon & Welcome it’s great to meet you today.

I am one of the Community Champion’s here at Scope.

Sorry to hear about your current situation/problems.

Can I please forward your post onto one of our team members who will be able to offer you some help/support?????

 Hi @Adrian_Scope

Can you please offer me some help with this new post?????

Thanks

Steve.

janer1967

Hi @singsong1970 Welcome to the community great to have you on board, I am sorry to hear about your situation and we hear all the time how delays in UC cause debt due to the 5 week waiting time for payment. did you request an advance payment to ease the burden I know this needs to be paid back but in instalments.

Do you know why your benefits are reduced now on UC. Did yu get any additional premiums before in a support group / 

phillycollings29

Welcome @singsong1970 I too have mental health difficulties and totally get you. I understand being suicidal.  and am really glad you have joined.  I think you will find a great deal of help and encouragement here.  

Adrian_Scope

Hi @singsong1970 and welcome to the community. I'm sorry you've found the situation so stressful. Is the debt you're in as a result of rent arrears, if so you could apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover it. To clarify, did you move to a new council authority when you moved house?

Can I ask if you usually get much in the way of support with your mental health, are you engaged with social services at all?
You mention you're on stabilising medication now, but there's also plenty of resources out there such as Mind's pages on dealing with suicidal feelings. You might also like to try Samaritans (116 123 or jo@samaritans.org if you'd prefer to email them!) but if you ever feel like you might be in immediate danger, please contact the emergency services or go straight to your local hospital.