A single mum has been forced to end her maternity leave to work nights in a bar after £20-a-week Universal Credit cuts left her unable to "afford to live".
Sophie Carter, 24, gave birth to her son Marley eight months ago but is returning to work early in a bid to make up for the £80 a month cut.
The £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit, which was brought in to help people on low incomes during the Covid-19 pandemic, is being withdrawn today.
Mum-of-two Sophie is now set to spend her nights working in a bar instead of tucking her kids into bed, despite planning to have maternity leave for a year.
Sophie, who lives in Bicester, Oxfordshire, said: "I've been extremely stressed, as you can imagine, for the last month. It's not fair for them to be doing that.
"As a single mother of two children, this has affected my mental health massively. Both my kids are in nappies, I've got to get formula, I have to get this and that and I haven't been able to do that properly.
"I've explained to Universal Credit that I am struggling massively and that I need more help but they've basically said that there's nothing they can do and I just have to get on with it.
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"My second child is only eight months - I had hoped I could spend at least a year with him but I have to go back to work this month because I can't afford to live.
"Their only suggestion was to go to the food bank. It's not right."
Before today's cuts, Sophie was on maternity leave following the birth of her youngest son, receiving £160 every two weeks from the government since December 2020 on top of her Universal Credit.
Her maternity leave pay from the government ended on September 7, just four weeks before the £20-a-week Universal Credit increase was withdrawn.
It means Sophie will now receive £400 less, leaving her worried for the future of her family.
While she works in a bar, her elderly grandmother will step in to help look after her children.
Sophie, who cares for Marley and her two-year-old son, Emerson, said: "I'm going to have to work in a bar and it'll be night shifts so I won't be home to put my kids to bed, which is so hard.
"My second child is only eight months and I have to go back to work now - I had hoped I could spend at least a year with him but I have to go back this month because I can't afford to live.
"My nan will look after the kids when I'm working. She's 73 now so I don't feel like it's fair to get her to help out like this but I haven't been left with a choice."
The £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit was introduced back in April 2020 to support those on low incomes during the coronavirus pandemic.
The government has now decided to remove the increase, saying that higher wages, rather than taxpayer-funded benefit rises, will be the better option as the country emerges from Covid-19 restrictions.
For those like Sophie who have relied on the increase to get them an extremely difficult year, the news has come as a crushing blow.
Sophie claims she was only warned in September that the increase was disappearing and has struggled to understand how she will manage to support her family without it.
She said: "I didn't even realise they had put a £20-a-week increase on my Universal Credit in the first place, so for me to get that message through to say they're taking that amount from me, I was just shocked.
"They only told me a month before that they were taking back that £20-a-week. One month is not much time at all, I was so shocked.
"It's a fair bit of money for me to miss out on, I just think it's awful. People are struggling to live on what they have, even with that £20 - I know I have been.
"People might think that £20 isn't a lot but when you have kids and you have to put food on the table, it's a lot of money you're taking away from people.
"I really think they should be looking into keeping that £20-a-week increase on there but obviously I know they aren't going to do that because they like to make people live on the bare minimum."
A Government spokesperson said: "We’ve always been clear that the uplift to Universal Credit was temporary.
"It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so.
"Universal Credit will continue to provide vital support for those both in and out of work and it’s right that the Government should focus on our Plan for Jobs, supporting people back into work and supporting those already employed to progress and earn more."
