Universal Credit claimants double in a year to over 25,000
THE number of borough residents receiving Universal Credit has doubled over the past year in the wake of coronavirus, with young people disproportionately affected, new figures show.
The Department of Work and Pensions figures for May 2020 show the number of people claiming payments and searching for work dramatically up.
The overall picture saw 12,474 residents needing support while looking for work compared to 6,101 last year. In total, 24,620 residents claimed Universal
Credit in May in Rochdale, Heywood and Middleton - a figure rising to 25,340 by June.
Coun John Blundell, Rochdale council’s cabinet member for employment, is worried about the consequences for the borough and says localised lockdowns are making the problems worse.
He said: “I fear it’s about to get worse because people are now coming off furlough, so companies are quickly going to realise they can no longer afford them. One company I spoke to said they’ve got people on one week on and off another.
“In reality, while they’ve still got the Greater Manchester regional measures in place, how can there be no more financial support packages? That seems obvious to me.
“When this local lockdown was introduced, there was no more money sent to Greater Manchester. When we say to people stop meeting up in pubs, stop meeting up indoors altogether, but then don’t offer any additional support to the businesses, that creates a problem.
“There should have been a support package for councils to deliver.
“They could have married up the support along with the local lockdown and support business at a more integrated level.
“This will lead to a lot of uncertainty and unemployment.” The DWP has said the number of people claiming Universal Credit does not necessarily indicate a corresponding rise in unemployment, as the benefit is designed to adapt to people’s changing circumstances and can act to top up incomes if earnings drop - so not every new claimant will have lost their job or be fully unemployed.
Minister for Employment Mims Davies said: “Today’s figures show more of the impact the virus is having on our labour market and many people will be understandably concerned about the future – which is why we’ve set out our Plan for Jobs, to protect, create and support jobs as we build back our economy.
“We’ve already protected more than 9.5m jobs throughout this period with the furlough scheme, supported more than two million selfemployed people and paid out billions in loans and grants to thousands of businesses.
“The Eat Out to Help Out scheme is supporting thousands of jobs in the hospitality sector, and the cut to stamp duty has led to a surge in house sales and a welcome boost to the economy.
“Looking to the future, next month we’re launching the £2bn Kickstart scheme to create thousands of high quality jobs for young people, increasing access to tailored job support by doubling the number of work coaches across the UK and we are boosting the Flexible Support Fund by £150m to provide localised employment support”.