Self-employed ‘penalised’ by universal credit

Its aim from the start was to ‘make work pay’. But the roll-out of universal credit quickly hit the buffers for many unemployed people, with delays in payments a particular problem. For the self-employed, the new benefits system is not getting universal approval either. Critics say its use of a ‘minimum income floor’, a financial calculation which assumes a stable level of earnings, is inflexible and is being used unfairly to penalise claimants.