Cutting a £20-a-week top-up on Universal Credit payments could leave some claimants “destitute”, Citizen’s Advice’s has warned.
The Government offered an “uplift” worth just over £1,000 a year to struggling families on Universal Credit at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
But there were no guarantees the extra cash would still be provided after March, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying on Wednesday that the situation is “under review”.
Citizen’s Advice (CA), which has seen a sharp rise in people seeking support from it since the start of the pandemic, said keeping the money in place was vital to prevent households falling further into financial difficulties.
The number of people in Leeds claiming Universal Credit has increased by 60 per cent since 2019.
Marliyn Bannister, a service delivery manager for CA, told Leeds city councillors: “If we lose the £20 a week on Universal Credit it’s going to cause destitution.
At a meeting on Thursday, she said:
“People at the moment are not managing. If they lose the £20 a week they will be in destitution."
If people had enough money organisations like CA wouldn't need to offer so many resources, he added.
“People are given dignity and choice if they have the money, and they haven’t got that if they have to go to a foodbank.”
The council confirmed on Wednesday that it would write to the government over the issue, after a Labour motion on the subject was passed at a full council meeting.
The authority’s deputy leader, Debra Coupar, said the government was working its benefits policy around an “assumption that there are jobs out there”.
She said: “That just doesn’t work during this emergency. There are no jobs out there.
“I think that because of the benefit freeze that there was over a number of years, people were already on the back foot.
"When the government gave the £20 uplift it was welcome, but it’s nowhere near enough where benefit levels should be.
“I want the £20 to stay and become a permanent fixture.”
The Leeds branch of trade union Unite joined in calls to keep the uplift in place.
Branch secretary Heather Blakey said the pandemic had exposed the inadequacy of the welfare system and entrenched inequalities.
A £20 a week boost to Universal Credit would be a "small step" in easing the huge burden people are facing, she added.
