A plea by Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish politicians to extend the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit has been rejected out of hand by the Tory government.
Thérèse Coffey, the UK Work and Pensions Secretary, said the £20 a week cut will go ahead meaning thousands of working families on low incomes will slip into poverty.
Coffey confirmed that the increase will end as planned on 6 October in a response to a letter issued by cross-party committees from Westminster, the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Senedd and the Scottish Parliament.
The original letter was signed by Neil Gray MSP, Convener of Holyrood’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee, Stephen Timms MP, Chair of Westminster’s Work and Pensions Select Committee, Paula Bradley MLA, Chair of Stormont’s Committee for Communities, and Jenny Rathbone MS, Chair of the Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee.
The joint letter, sent in July, had called on the Government to extend the £20 a week increase in the standard allowance of Universal Credit, which is due to end in October.
It means the standard rates will go down to £257.33 a month for single claimants aged under 25, or £324.84 a month for single claimants over 25.
But Coffey replied: “Now the economy has reopened it is right that the Government should focus on supporting people back into work and supporting those already employed to progress in their careers. Our ambition is to support two million people move into and progress in work through our comprehensive £33 billion Plan for Jobs.”
Government statistics show that there were six million people receiving Universal Credit by January 2021, up from about three million in March 2020.
Neil Gray MSP, the SNP Convener of Holyrood’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee, said: “The response from the Secretary of State failed to engage on the issues we raised and recognise the large proportion of Universal Credit recipients who are already in work.
“If this cut is to go ahead it would be the single biggest social security cut since the second world war as we are still assessing the impact the pandemic has had on poverty levels for those in and out of work.
“UK Ministers must reflect on the damage this cut will do, particularly to those groups already suffering the most from the pandemic such – children, disabled people, single parents and people from BAME communities – and keep this key support in place.”
Stephen Timms MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “The £20 cut will plunge hundreds of thousands, including children, into poverty. Instead, the Government should extend the lifeline beyond September.
"The Secretary of State’s dismissive response to our letter suggests that the Government is still in denial about the impact of ending the increase."
Timms added: “The Government’s new employment support schemes are welcome, but 40 per cent of Universal Credit claimants are already in work. The cut will hit many working families hard. Benefit rates, in real terms, will fall to their lowest level in over 30 years. The Government must change course to prevent severe hardship for many thousands of families.”
In its first oral evidence session on September 8 after the summer recess, the Commons Work and Pensions Committee will hear from people with personal experience of claiming Universal Credit during the pandemic.
