The government must keep the £20 uplift to universal credit in place, senior Tories have said.
Iain Duncan Smith, Damian Green, Stephen Crabb, David Gauke, Esther McVey, and Amber Rudd - each of them former work and pensions secretaries - have written to Boris Johnson's government to urge it not to remove the uplift.
“As the economy reopens, and the government re-evaluates where it has been spending money, we ask that the current funding for individuals in the universal credit envelope be kept at the current level,” they said.
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“We ask that you protect the investment in universal credit, to strengthen work incentives for those who can work and support more generously those who cannot work.”
The £20 weekly uplift was introduced at the start of the pandemic for those on universal credit.
That benefit was due to end in March, but the government agreed to extend the scheme for six months after pressure from opposition parties, backbench MPs, and campaigners.
It is now due to end in September, meaning anyone on universal credit will be around £1,000 a year worse off, despite the cost of living continuing to rise.
Last week the welfare minister and Conservative MP Will Quince said it was his "expectation" that the £20 per week uplift would end in September as planned. That's despite the DWP admitting it hasn't examined how many children will be plunged into poverty by the move; campaigners and thinktanks estimate that number at between 200,000 and 400,000 children.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously said he "would keep the uplift until a new, fairer system can be put in place".
Separately, it has emerged that self-employed universal credit claimants face a cut to their monthly payments from next month due to a change in the way the DWP works out its allocations. Also separately, research published in May found poverty levels among working households were now at their highest this century.
