The £20-a-week rise in Universal Credit is set to be axed next month and will have a "catastrophic" impact on claimants a government insider has warned.
Homelessness, poverty and food bank use will all see a huge rise according to the Whitehall official, reports the Mirror.
The official said: “It could be the real disaster of the autumn."
READ MORE: Body found in canal near tourist attraction
Ending the current “uplift”, introduced in April 2020, is opposed by six former Tory welfare chiefs, charities, landlords, opposition MPs, unions, debt groups and mortgage lenders.
Yet Boris Johnson is pressing ahead, claiming he wants to focus on working people, despite the fact 40% of the six million claimants already have a job.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman today said there would be no reversal of the £20-a-week cut, and said: “The final decision has been made”.
The official told the Financial Times: “The internal modelling of ending the UC uplift is catastrophic.
“Homelessness and poverty are likely to rise, and food banks usage will soar. It could be the real disaster of the autumn.”
The modelling comes despite ministers repeatedly saying they have carried out no impact assessment of the cut.
Asked in July to publish the DWPs impact assessment, minister Will Quince replied: “No assessment has been made.”
It’s not known exactly what format the internal modelling is in, or whether it is a full impact assessment.
The modelling itself has not been revealed or quoted from.
But one minister told the FT: “There’s no doubt that this is going to have a serious impact on thousands of people and colleagues are really worried, I think it will definitely eclipse social care as a political problem.
“It’s not just red wall MPs who are fearing a major backlash from the public.”
A senior Tory official added: “We need to be ahead of this. Labour will make hay with the fact we’re harming the poorest in society.”
The £86 a month being cut from UC far outstrips the National Insurance rise Boris Johnson announced this week to fund social care.
By comparison, that rise in NI will cost £30k earners £255 a year, and less for lower earners.
MPs who have been begging Boris Johnson for a U-turn for months reacted with fury.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper said: “So the Tory Government knows the Universal Credit cut will be catastrophic for homelessness, poverty and families going hungry, yet they are still ploughing ahead with it. Truly appalling.”
Labour MP Karen Buck tweeted: “So government ‘braced for catastrophe’ but not willing to take any action to avert it. Tells you everything. But there’s still time. Cancel the cut.”
