No more six-week waits for benefits

NEW claimants of benefits will no longer have to wait up to six weeks for their first Universal Credit payment, Esther McVey said last night.

The Work and Pensions Secretary affirmed a commitment to rolling out the key welfare reform as she cut a week off the waiting time.

Universal Credit combines six types of benefits into one monthly payment. It is designed to simplify the welfare system and ensure no-one faces a situation where they would be better off claiming benefits than working.

But MPs and charities had warned that long delays in payments for new claimants were causing vulnerable families to suffer.

Miss McVey said an arbitrary extra week in which new claimants had to wait for benefits would be axed from today, which would benefit the average household by around £160.