Rudd halts plan to put 3m on Universal Credit
Shake-up for hated benefit system £15k ‘crisis level’ household debt
Cleverly’s comment on I, Daniel Blake PLANS to roll out Universal Credit to three million benefit claimants have been shelved amid fears about the payment’s devastating impact.
Welfare Secretary Amber Rudd said she wants to overhaul the hated all-inone benefit to make it “fit for purpose”.
She has ditched plans for a Commons vote to get MPs’ permission for the full roll-out.
Instead, she will unveil details of a pilot scheme, which will start in July and involve 10,000 benefits claimants if it gets the approval of MPs.
It is a victory for the Mirror, which has called for a halt to the expansion of Universal Credit.
We told last week how it had driven dad Dean Lovell-Payne, 52, to take an overdose.
Almost 1.5 million claimants are already on Universal Credit, which merges six benefits into one. Critics claim it has plunged families into debt.
Theresa May yesterday confirmed there would be new proposals, but said a full roll-out would still go ahead by Our story on Dean PERSONAL debt rose “sharply” in 2018, and was equivalent to £15,385 per household, up £886 on the previous year, analysis by the TUC has revealed.
Unsecured debt, which includes credit card and personal loans, as a share of 2023. Ms Rudd has signalled that she wants to make changes since taking over the welfare brief in November.
She said: “UC is a vital reform so I want to roll it out carefully… It means UC can proceed on time and be fit for purpose: helping people work and getting support to people quickly.”
A DWP source said: “If every work coach in the pilot scheme says there are serious problems here then obviously we’ll act.”
Labour Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood said: “Hopefully the Government is waking up to the devastating implications of its so-called ‘managed migration’ to Universal Credit.”
Tory James Cleverly caused outrage with comments about I, Daniel Blake, saying the Ken Loach film about benefits sanctions was “not a documentary”.
Labour’s Ian Lavery accused the Tories of lacking “any sort of humility”. household income is 30.4%, a “crisis level”, TUC boss Frances O’Grady said.
She blamed pay stagnation and austerity, and said: “A strong economy needs people spending wages, not credit cards and loans.”