Rudd admits universal credit drove up use of food banks

THE “challenging” roll-out of universal credit pushed up the number of people using food banks, Amber Rudd has admitted for the first time.

The Work and Pensions Secretary conceded it was “absolutely clear” there had been issues with the roll-out that had “led to an increase in food bank use”.

“It is absolutely clear that there were challenges with the initial roll-out of universal credit and the main issue that led to an increase in food bank use could have been the fact that people had difficulty accessing their money early enough,” she told the Commons yesterday.

“We have made changes to accessing universal credit so that people can have advances so that there is a legacy runon after two weeks of housing benefit and we believe that will help with food and security.”

The full roll-out of universal credit, which combines six benefits into one, is expected to be completed by 2023. Around 1.6 million people currently claim it.

The Trussell Trust, a food poverty charity, said the use of food banks had risen by 52 per cent in areas where universal credit had been in place for 12 months, compared with 13 per cent in areas where it had been live for three months or less.

However, the Government had previously denied a link between the two.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We have long acknowledged that there were issues with the initial roll out of universal credit and that’s why we’ve listened and made improvements.”

The welfare policy was introduced in 2013 under Iain Duncan Smith. Last night, Mr Duncan Smith did not deny the roll-out had been a problem, insisting he resigned as work and pensions secretary in 2016 because “the chancellor at the time took nearly £5billion out of universal credit when they started to roll it out”.

Margaret Greenwood, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said the initial wait was pushing families “into poverty” and food banks. “It is astonishing that Amber Rudd has admitted this link yet she has failed to take action on the five-week wait,” she said.