Amy Frost, 25, worked as a pizza delivery driver but when her car broke down before the pandemic she was unable to afford the repairs and lost her job.
She applied for Universal Credit but it was not enough to cover the rent on her flat and she moved into a shared house.
Amy, from Tuebrook, Liverpool, said the £20 uplift meant she could buy healthier food, “not just packets of noodles or long-life tins.”
“I could get fresh produce which was really good for improving my health.
"Fruit and veg can be quite expensive. It is a luxury to people on UC.”
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But now the uplift is being snatched away and Amy will rely on food banks as she tries to survive on less than £50 a week, after paying her rent and fuel bills.
She will have little left for food, transport and other costs, which include buying equipment and materials for her soon to be launched homeware upcycling business, Eclectic Feel, for which she has received help and advice from the North West charity, The Women’s Organisation.
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“I’m pretty sure they (the government) must know that the amount of money people get is not enough. It is really cruel to cut people’s lifelines.
“They need to do something to increase people’s monthly payments because it is necessary. It is people’s lives.”
Amy was receiving £590 a month in UC with the uplift.
Her rent and fuel bills came to £320 a month, leaving her with just £270 a month for food, toiletries, her phone bill, household items and transport. The removal of the uplift means that figure is being slashed to £194 a month - less than £50 a week.
