Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
End of universal credit uplift bashed
Charities and politicians have hit out at the ending of the £20 universal credit uplift which will impact nearly 55,000 Lanarkshire households.
Save the Children say that the payment reduction means “20,000 more children in Scotland will be pushed into poverty” and add: “Families are facing a catastrophe of falling income and rising costs.”
Neil Gray MSP has invited Scottish secretary Alister Jack to visit a foodbank in his Airdrie & Shotts constituency, while former Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard called the move “catastrophic” and joined those demanding it be reversed.
The weekly payment was temporarily increased at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but was reduced back down to its pre-covid level earlier this month.
Figures from Save the Children indicate that ending the uplift, worth £1040 per year, will impact more than 360,000 children from nearly 250,000 households across Scotland and want to see it reinstated in this month’s UK autumn budget.
Claire Telfer, the charity’s head for Scotland, said: “This cut will devastate families in Scotland – people we work with tell us they’ve been relying on this lifeline to buy essentials like food and clothing.
“We know the impacts of childhood poverty can last a lifetime. The government has a duty to protect families from hardship and not add to it and must change course.”
Airdrie & Shotts representative Mr Gray is the convener of Holyrood’s social security committee and last month joined with counterparts across the UK in writing to Westminster chancellor Rishi Sunak and work & pensions secretary Therese Coffey to ask that the uplift be made permanent.
He invited Mr Jack to visit a local foodbank to “see the real-life impact and convince your colleagues to reinstate the uplift immediately”, after the Scottish secretary was asked in a television interview if he personally knew anyone affected by the loss of the £20 per week.
Mr Gray said: “It seems very surprising that Mr Jack has never met anyone on universal credit given that there are claimants in virtually every Scottish constituency.
“And I really hope that he agrees to visit and see just what a struggle life on social security payments is.”
Central Scotland counterpart Mr Leonard is also demanding that the government “cancel this disgraceful cut”, saying: “The Tories are inflicting untold damage on communities, as a cost-of-living crisis grows – but it’s not too late for them to do the right thing.
“If they refuse it will go down in history as a particularly shameful act from a cruel and uncaring government; the fact they implemented this during Challenge Poverty week demonstrates how little they care about the most vulnerable people in our society.”
Scottish Parliament figures show that 29,496 households in North Lanarkshire received universal credit in May this year, as did a further 25,493 in South Lanarkshire; and MSPS voted 88-28 that the £20 reduction should be halted in a Holyrood debate.
North Lanarkshire Council’s administration is also calling for the uplift to be reinstated, with finance convener Bob Burrows saying: “The decision to cut universal and working tax credits is a hammer blow to thousands of people in our communities.
“Research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation states that this will be the biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the Second World War.
“Party politics seems to be preventing hardworking families and some of our most vulnerable from getting the support they need, particularly during a pandemic – as both UK and Scottish governments have the powers to reverse this, we would urge both to do what is necessary to prevent this cut from taking place.”