Call for action on unequal levels of benefits

Rapid changes to the welfare system in response to the coronavirus crisis have created an “untenable” difference in support for people on universal credit (UC) and those on older “legacy” benefits, a watchdog has warned.

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) said the £1,000 annual increase in UC was not mirrored for people on employment support allowance or jobseekers’ allowance.

The committee called for claimants to get the same rise as those on UC, backdated to April 6.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the increase in universal credit and the working tax credit on March 20 “to strengthen the safety net” for four million households at the height of the pandemic.

But in a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, the SSAC’s interim chairwoman Liz Sayce called for action to help those who are not on UC.

The SSAC was told the legacy benefits were excluded because they could not be changed quickly or safely and posed “serious IT challenges”.

Ms Sayce said: “While we understand the reasons for not including ESA and JSA in the original announcement, we are of the strong view that it is increasingly untenable for this group of claimants to be excluded and to continue to have a lower level of income than those in receipt of universal credit and working tax credit.

“We recommend that the government finds a way to ensure that this group of claimants, that includes some of the least well-off, are brought up to the same level as those in receipt of universal credit,” added Ms Sayce.