CRUELLEST CUT
140,000 more families a day choosing between heating and eating in UK
Up to 140,000 low income households are being added each day to the list of families forced to choose between heating and eating.
Boris Johnson’s cruel cancelling of the Universal Credit uplift at the Tory Party conference means that by today 1.7million working families in the UK have lost £20 a week, which wil l rise to 4.3million by next month.
The figures came from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation ( JRF) as the poverty research h charity tries to plot the increased d pressure food banks and debt bt advisers will face this winter.
JobCentre adviser Stephen, who has a teenage son, is not allowed wed to tell his workless clients he is also on benefits but he has just £ 55 a week to live on now UC has been cut. t
He said: “That money was for school bus fares, books and other necessities. Now, it’s that or cutting back on food.”
That is why footballer Marcus Rashford and the Food Foundation he works with are demanding free school meals this autumn for every child up to age 16 in households receiving UC. He said: “No child should be going to bed hungry. Food poverty is never the child’s fault.”
The loss of the UC uplift will throw 500,000 claimants into poverty including 200,000 kids, according to the JRF.
A study by University College London last week showed many schools in deprived areas are trying to plug the gap by helping children out with extra food and clothes.
UCL said: “That families are so reliant
on schools highl ights fufundamental weaknesses in ourou welfare system.”
As the ststandard UC payment drops from£from£409409.8989aa month to £317.82, families are facing paying out an extra £107 a month in higher food and energy costs, according to insurer Royal London.
Citizens Advice warns that a third of UC claimants will now end up in average debts of £50 a month and charity Turn2us says one in four will be unable to afford rent or mortgage payments.
Up to 11million families will see energy bills increase by £139 a year to £1277, while four million prepayment meter users face a £153 rise to £1309 a year.
Citizens Advice chief Dame Clare Moriarty said: “Cutting UC as we head into a very tough winter is a recipe for disaster.
“If the Government is serious about levelling up it must change course.”