Thread by @vicderbyshire

One man’s life, Britain, May 2020

Last month on BBC 1 one mid-morning we spoke to Paul Stewart. He’s a carpenter by trade. In April he moved from London to Bradford for a job working on railway stations. He rented a flat sharing with others.

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Unfortunately the firm didn’t start him on the job in the end because of the pandemic

(the campaign for people who were never able to take up new jobs and missed out on being furloughed is newstarterjustice.co.uk #newstarter )

Paul then applied for Universal Credit. That process was straightforward he told us, but actually getting any money wasn’t. No payment came thro’. He told us he was eligible for an advance (which you can get on Day 1 to tide you over) of......

90p

Then his landlord evicted him

His landlord threw him out because he could no longer pay the rent. So for 4 nights he slept in an underpass.

As you lovely lot listened to his story, you offered to help

And there was this from Lisa

This from Aidan in Newcastle

This from Malcolm

and some more of you too

Then, Bradford City Council got in touch

We rang Paul back & told him about 50 viewers had raised around £500 for him, & about the council too. With his PayPal details, we transferred the donations from you & he chose to move back into the flat (easier than trying to find a new one & the landlord still had his deposit)

Paul said he was almost in tears at your kindness and ‘stunned’ by the donations

‘Can I say thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of the support that I have received, I am truly humbled’

After we called the Dept of Work & Pensions, they to be fair stepped in. A spokesman told us - ‘information from Mr Stewart’s employer showed a level of earnings above the threshold. This has been disputed by Mr Stewart & a Universal Credit payment of £696 has been made while...

..we look into the matter. Once we were provided with details of the case by the BBC, we were able to make this payment within 24 hra. The gov is committed to supporting people thro this emergency & our dedicated staff have gone above & beyond to help make 2m UC claims in 2 mths’

So...

THANK YOU VERY VERY VERY MUCH TO YOU OUR VIEWERS

❤️

You are legends.

[ends]

PS total credit to @PorterAlice2 from our (now very small) team who brought Paul onto the airwaves and helped get the money to him 👏💕