TORIES TEXT - WE ARE TAKING YOUR 20 QUID
Benefits axe confirmed in cruel SMS
MILLIONS of Universal Credit claimants have been told by text that their benefits will be cut as the Tories plough on with plans to axe the £20-a-week uplift.
The UK Government has ignored calls from charities, opposition parties and its own MPs not to remove the increase introduced in April 2020 to help people through the coronavirus pandemic.
Experts have warned that ending the payment could plunge thousands of people into poverty.
But benefit claimants began to receive text messages yesterday confirming the cut would still be going ahead next month.
Anti-poverty campaigner Sean Clerkin, a recipient of Universal Credit, said: “The message told me I had been receiving an extra £86.67p since April 2020, which was a temporary increase because of the coronavirus pandemic. It added the increase will end soon and my payment on September 17 would be the last time I received this amount.
“You couldn’t make this stuff up. I phoned the DWP and they confirmed similar messages had been sent to millions of people.”
The move comes as a poll published yesterday found nearly two-thirds of people support extending the £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit
A YouGov survey for Citizens Advice Scotland found 35 per cent of people supported keeping the cash in place until the financial situation created by the pandemic “is more stable”.
More than a quarter of those surveyed said the cash rise should be made permanent.
Eleven per cent said the top-up should end in September, with 10 per cent saying the cut should be implemented sooner.
The DWP said it announced last month that benefit claimants would be contacted.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey told MPs in July: “Ahead of October, we will start communicating with the current claimants who receive the £20 to make them aware that that will be being phased out.”
Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “What a shockingly heartless way to tell people that the support they rely on will be cut.
“You cannot announce a decision that could send thousands deeper into poverty via text message.”