PM is ‘abandoning millions to hunger’ by £20 cut to benefits

ABOUT one in eight working-age people across Leicestershire will be hit by cutting the £20-a-week uplift to universal credit now the Government has removed the benefit boost.

Anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) says Boris Johnson is “abandoning millions to hunger and hardship” by ending the uplift as families face a looming cost of living crisis.

Across the county area, 87,920 people were claiming universal credit (UC) on August 12 - the latest Department for Work and Pensions figures show.

That’s 13 per cent of people aged between 16 and 64 in the area, according to the latest Office for National Statistics population estimates - around one in eight people in the age group.

That was roughly the same as the average of 14 per cent across Britain as a whole.

The figures include some claimants who did not receive any money that month as it is not possible to exclude these cases.

The number of claimants in Leicestershire in August was well over double the 41,253 on the benefit in February 2020 - the last full month before the Covid-19 pandemic sent demand for help soaring.

In August 2019, 33,318 people in the area were claiming the benefit.

The £20 weekly uplift was introduced in March 2020 to help tackle hardship caused by the pandemic, but was officially due to end on October 6. The increase also applies to Work Tax Credits, though local figures on the number of individuals claiming WTC are not available. But analysis by JRF found that 21 per cent of working-age families across Leicestershire would be affected by the reduction to both types of benefit.

The figure rose to 43 per cent when only including working-age families with children, according to the charity’s research.

The Government has repeatedly stressed the weekly increase was only ever a temporary measure. But others argue it showed the level of support provided by benefits was inadequate before the pandemic due to years of austerity.

Voices from across the political spectrum have called for the increase to be made permanent, as the wind-up of other support such as the furlough scheme means even more people may need help.

Many families also face rising energy bills, higher inflation affecting the cost of living, and next year’s planned increase to National Insurance payments.

Across Britain, nearly six million people were on UC in August - just over double the number in February 2020 and higher still than in August 2019.

Katie Schmuecker, deputy director of policy and partnerships at JRF, said: “The Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open.

“The biggest ever overnight cut to social security flies in the face of the Government’s mission to unite and level up our country.

“When the increase to UC was introduced, the Chancellor said it was to “strengthen the safety net” – a tacit admission a decade of cuts and freezes had left our social security lifeline to wear thin and threadbare for families in and out of work relying on it. “People’s bills won’t get £87-amonth cheaper and families are anxious about how they will get through a looming cost of living crisis. This decision is set to plunge half a million people into poverty and shows a total disregard for the consequences.”

A Government spokesperson said: “We’ve always been clear that the uplift to universal credit was temporary. It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so.”