Advertisement
For £35 you can help a vendor keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing
BUY A VENDOR SUPPORT KIT
Social Justice

Universal Credit claims double since March

446 people were making new claims for Universal Credit every hour in the first week of 2021

The number of people claiming Universal Credit has doubled since March

The Government has not committed to keeping the £20 per week Universal Credit increase, threatening a £1,040 cut to incomes

Six million people are now claiming Universal Credit, new Government figures show, highlighting a 98 per cent increase since March last year as the UK battles through the economic impact of the pandemic .

The number of people claiming Universal Credit grew by 270,000 in just the last three months, the data shows, demonstrating that “the economic consequences of this pandemic are still in full swing,” according to James Grier, director of external affairs at anti-poverty charity Turn2us.

“This is exactly why it would be such a terrible idea to reduce benefit payments by £20 a week now,” he added.

The Government introduced a temporary £20-per-week increase to Universal Credit in March but, despite repeated calls from campaigners and MPs, ministers have yet to commit to making the increase permanent.

Up to 4.5 million people have signed up for Universal Credit since March and 1.5 million have stopped receiving the benefit.

Lockdowns have taken income away from hundreds of Big Issue sellers. Support The Big Issue and our vendors by signing up for a subscription.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The new figures showed 446 people were making new claims for the benefit every hour in the first week of 2021. 

Britain is “facing the worst economic crisis of any major economy” because of the Government’s “incompetence and indecision”, said Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary.

Removing the £20-a-week increase would cut £1,040 from the annual income of millions of people across the UK.

The reduction will “push children into poverty and leave out of work support is at its lowest level in decades at a time when unemployment is set to peak,” Reynolds added, calling for the Chancellor Rishi Sunak so cancel the “economically illiterate” cut.

Media reports have suggested Sunak could announce a six-month extension to the increase in next week’s budget, after it was previously suggested the Government could stick with the cut but hand out £500 or £1,000 one-off payments to claimants.

But there has been little suggestion that the ministers will budge on calls to extend the increase to those receiving so-called legacy benefits such as Employment Support Allowance, which are largely claimed by disabled people who have faced higher living costs in lockdown.

Advertisement

New Universal Credit claimants include more than 620,000 families with children, according to Save the Children, a 51 per cent increase to 1.8 million since March.

Many families will be forced to rely on food banks or fall into debt if the cut goes ahead, the charity warned.

“Universal Credit continues to support millions of people during their time of need,” said Will Quince, the Government’s welfare delivery minister.

“It is a vital safety net that has stood up to the challenge of the pandemic, and with thousands of new work coaches we are helping claimants across the country get back on their feet with one-to-one tailored support.

“Universal Credit is one of the pillars of our support for families with lower incomes.”

Advertisement

Struggling families have seen their household budgets stretched to the limit by the pandemic, and they will continue to feel the financial impacts of this crisis for some time,” said Becca Lyon, head of child poverty at Save the Children.

“Parents tell us that, even with the extra £20 a week, they’re having to make impossible choices – skipping meals, running up debts, or relying on charities and food banks to feed their children. 

“Our country’s safety net is supposed to help those who need it through difficult times. But instead of helping families to get back on their feet, we’re talking about taking over £1000 a year away from them during a pandemic.

“Providing support for only another six months just won’t cut it.”

Two third of families claiming Universal Credit are single parent families, the charity said, around 90 per cent of whom are women, meaning the impact of cutting the benefit by £20 a week will hit them the hardest.

The welfare delivery minster added: “Alongside [Universal Credit], our Covid Winter Grant Scheme is keeping vulnerable children warm and well-fed, and our Plan for Jobs is helping people back on their feet and into work, with nearly two million people being supported through innovative programmes such as Kickstart and the Job Entry Targeted Support scheme.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'
a view from above of an older person with white hair eating out of a pot
Winter fuel payment

Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'

Ghosts star Charlotte Ritchie: 'It's a tragedy people can't afford their essentials'
Charlotte Ritchie at Trussell food bank
Food banks

Ghosts star Charlotte Ritchie: 'It's a tragedy people can't afford their essentials'

Is the cost of living crisis over and will prices in the UK ever come down?
Cost of living crisis

Is the cost of living crisis over and will prices in the UK ever come down?

'This cannot go on': Hundreds of thousands of people turning to food banks for the first time
food bank
Food banks

'This cannot go on': Hundreds of thousands of people turning to food banks for the first time

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know