Credit boost extension cautiously welcomed
MP WARNS MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO HELP
CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak is expected to extend a £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit for another six months.
But the plan received a very cautious welcome from Newcastle MP Catherine McKinnell, who said it would not end poverty in the city.
Mr Sunak increased Universal Credit by £20-a-week in April 2020, but said it was a temporary measure due to last only a year, to help people through the coronavirus pandemic. As things stand, the increase is soon to come to an end.
He’s come under pressure to extend the extra payments, because the country is still in lockdown and many people have either lost their jobs or seen their incomes fall.
It’s reported that he will announce the increase is to be extended for an extra six months, as part of his Budget statement on March 3.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell said: “I’ve been contacted by many constituents who have told me what a lifeline the extra £20 a week has been to them.
“So many people have said they are really struggling but have just about managed to pay childcare costs and grocery bills with the help of the additional support.
“An extension for a further six months would therefore bring some immediate relief to the more than 9,000 people in Newcastle North who rely on Universal Credit.
“But with the large majority of children growing up in poverty living in working households, it’s clear that the Government needs to do more than provide temporary relief and bring forward meaningful reforms to tackle low paid, insecure work, as I and other North East MPs have called on the Chancellor to do in the upcoming budget.”
A six-month extension falls short of measures demanded by the
House of
Commons Work and Pensions Committee, which called for the money to be available for another year “at the very least”.
The report said that the number of people claiming Universal Credit doubled to around six million since March, while job vacancies remain far below pre-pandemic levels. It warned that removing the payment in April would “plunge hundreds of thousands of households, including children into poverty” while dragging those already in poverty “down into destitution”.
A majority of members of the Committee are Conservative backbench MPs. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has estimated that keeping the £20 rise could cost around £6.4bn in the next financial year.
The Committee said it recognises that continuing with the increase will come at a “substantial cost”, but said this should be seen in the context of the Treasury’s own £280bn figure for total spending on coronavirus support measures this year.
Figures published earlier this week showed the impact of coronavirus and lockdowns on employment in the North East.
The claimant rate in the Newcastle Central constituency is 9.4%, with 6,850 people searching for a job – an increase of 2,870 compared to a year ago.
In the South Shields constituency, 9.9% of the population is looking for work. That’s 5,195 people, an increase of 1,580 over 12 months.
The figures refer to the proportion of the population aged 16 to 64 who are either on Jobseeker’s Allowance, or are required to look for work as a condition of their Universal Credit payments.
In the North East region as a whole, the claimant rate is 7%. There are 116,815 jobseekers in the region, and that’s up by 43,630
people over 12 months.