Universal credit was first introduced in Ashton-under-Lyne in July 2013. We were chosen to be the pilot area for this nightmare social security reform.

I use the term “social security” rather than benefits because I don’t know of anyone who actually benefits from claiming it.

I dreaded the arrival of universal credit and it has proven itself to be the stuff of nightmares. Universal credit is wide-ranging. Its regime affects both working and non-working poor people. It plans to take over most social security payments including working tax credits and child tax credits and it keeps a very close eye on you.

It punishes you if you are on a zero-hours contract and haven’t had the time to look for extra work as well. It sanctions you for not being able to look for extra work when you have been working. It takes away your shelter when you are made homeless because it takes far too long for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to process your claim. The DWP claims that it takes three weeks to process a claim, but in practice it’s at least eight weeks. I know a man who has been waiting since November.

Universal credit ensures that low-income households are guaranteed to be worse off. If you work part-time and are not seen to be looking for extra work then you will be sanctioned. Top-up payments are often essential for part-time workers because they don’t earn enough money to live on.

Universal credit is paid monthly in arrears and you are not entitled to a penny for a month after you become eligible. Most people don’t realise that this means your housing benefit stops. If you can’t keep up with your payments then you will fall behind with your rent and stand a high chance of being evicted.

Because of this most people will not be able to be able to budget. How can you when you are already behind with your rent? Of course you can get a loan from the DWP but this won’t cover the whole amount and has to be paid back at an amount that they decide. And let’s not forget that your rent is paid directly to you and not the landlord. Feeling confused? It’s not surprising.

Lets talk about applying for universal credit. It has to be done online and there’s no other way around it. That’s not very easy when over four million people don’t have access to a computer or can’t use one, which then produces another problem — what do you do when you need help?

You can use the universal credit helpline which is an 0845 number and the average cost from a landline is £3, which is out of the reach of anyone who doesn’t have access to a landline telephone.

While claiming universal credit you have to accept a claimant commitment. If you don’t, your claim for universal credit will be affected and it will also affect other members of your household. You aren’t told about this when you are told to claim universal credit.

Universal credit has had a very destructive effect on my town. We’ve seen a massive rise in homelessness which isn’t being met by the local authority. Crime has soared with shoplifting in supermarkets being one of the most common crimes — police have been known to hand out food to offenders.

Suicide levels have risen too. Every day more and more people are taking their own lives because they can’t see a way out.

The poor are scared, thinking of survival and existence and not enjoyment. Are you ready for universal credit? I know that we weren’t.

This cruel and heartless system needs to be stopped and reviewed. Its been proven not to be working but the DWP is still ploughing ahead with it.

Get prepared and help each other, but most of all remember that some of us actually do care.

Yesterday I was reminded by a comrade that we have now been demonstrating outside Ashton-under-Lyne jobcentre for seven months. We have been there every Thursday in all weathers.

Why do we continue, you may ask? Someone said to me recently: “You aren’t making a difference.” But we are making a difference. Our presence has started the process of the DWP being held responsible for their actions.

They of course don’t like this, but we aren’t there for them — we are there for the victims of their cruel regime.

The DWP got very nervous, but not because we are violent — far from it.

We aren’t aggressive, we are peaceful. We have one thing in common, and that is exposing the lies and the moral crimes that are committed inside that building and others.

The jobcentre called us in to a meeting and even tried to dictate to us how we could talk and where we could sit.

We didn’t give in to their intimidation tactics. Of course, they denied everything but we have been proven to be truthful.

As a result of our actions people up and down the country started to take notice, and that includes the media.

The media have become very interested. Why? Because there are grave injustices being committed inside these buildings they call jobcentres everyday.

I’ve been very lucky to be able to have my findings published in the Morning Star newspaper. I’ve also had the odd thing included in the Mirror and the Guardian. However I feel our biggest achievement so far is working with Dispatches on two recent programmes.

At first I was nervous — I didn’t want any claimants being portrayed in a negative way.

Their lives are hard enough without this. But the producers assured me that it wouldn’t be like that and I agreed.

As a result two fantastic programmes were made. Why are they so fantastic? Because they showed the reality of the situation and this is what we deal with every Thursday and in our Tuesday advice sessions.

We also help people with their claims and associated problems. We also help people to appeal. I was recently told by someone that we don’t do enough to help and we should be helping people to take the government to court.

Yes, we do encourage this, but our priority is stopping someone from starving or committing suicide.

We have done this three times to our knowledge.

Will we carry on? Yes, we will continue to be there from 1-3pm every Thursday. People depend on us being there. I for one will never stop this campaign until this whole regime stops. One death is a death too many.

Charlotte Hughes is the Green Party parliamentary candidate for Ashton-under-Lyne. This article first appeared on her blog.