ASA
Universal Credit
(UC) in the Metro
Accuracy
1. ‘There are a
lot of myths out there about it. We set the record straight...’
a) ‘You will have
to wait 5 weeks to get any money’ is stated to be a ‘myth’. The
minimum delay of five weeks cannot accurately be described as a myth.
It was the situation for several years until comparatively recently
and was a deliberate policy in part to discourage immediate claiming1
2
and in part to make payments later as doing so was said to reflect
the world of work . It can still only be avoided by claiming an
advance payment as a loan, which is a recent workaround policy in
response to valid criticism.
Presentation of this
is a ‘myth out there’ misleads, as it wrongly suggests that valid
criticism of UC for including this wait was being invented, or at a
minimum levelled at the system unfairly.
b) ‘UC makes it
harder to pay rent’ is stated to be a myth. This misleads by giving
the impression that payment of rent is no harder on UC. Payment is
significantly further in arrears than legacy benefits. Advances are
repayable immediately by deductions, so do not prevent it being
harder to pay rent, as the person will simply have less money. As
above, advances are a recent workaround to prevent total destitution
at the start of a claim, but do not prevent claimants being worse off
due to the longer shift towards payment in arrears.
c) ‘People move
into work faster’. This is misleading and inaccurate because it
suggests that the same claimants on UC would move into work faster
than they would on legacy benefits, and/or that UC causes people to
return to work. The higher uptake of work on UC is explained by the
different claimant group that has been moved onto it at this point.
The people with the highest barriers to work have moved onto UC more
slowly. All the claimants moved onto UC in its early years were
single people with no barriers to work, who would have returned to
work anyway3.
d) ‘If you take a
job you lose UC’. This is misleading by suggesting this is a
widespread criticism of UC that people are making. This is not a myth
that is ‘out there’. It is an obviously misguided criticism
included solely to give the impression that criticisms made of UC are
widely invalid and poorly argued (‘scaremongering’), rather than
addressing the legitimate criticisms of UC that are being made.
Clarity of origin
a) Although there is
a line at the top of the pages stating ‘ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE FROM
THE DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS’, its presentation in smaller
font and in all capitals makes it harder to read at a glance than
standard text. While this may not have mattered had this been clear
from the context anyway, when there are essentially two competing
stories for the origin of the piece this is an unfair technique to
draw focus from it.
b) The disclaimer is
contradicted by the overall presentation of the article. The headings
‘uncovered’, ‘guide to’, ‘your questions answered’, ‘4
page special’ are not consistent with an advertisement. The overall
tone as a whole is misleadingly presented as a journalistic
investigation into UC that unexpectedly uncovered a positive picture
for the Department.
c) An intention to
disguise the origin of the piece was stated by the Department. “We
want to grab the readers’ attention and make them wonder who has
done this ‘UC uncovered’ investigation.”4
d) The voice of the
writer is not consistent with an advertisement.‘We’ set the
record straight, but ‘your jobcentre’ will pay you (not we)
misleadingly suggests that the piece is written by a Metro reporter.
1https://www.opfs.org.uk/waiting-period-increasing-for-some-benefit-claimants/
2https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/350772/42915_unnumerbed_Act_accessible.pdf
3http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk/universal-credit-bending-the-evidence/
4https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/14/universal-credit-department-work-pensions-pr
