Universal credit: Devolved governments join calls to keep £20 top-up
Rural benefit claimants face higher bills to live a basic life. This proposal is a real threat to those hidden rural dwellers living on the poverty line. It tells us:
The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have called on the UK government to rethink plans to end the universal credit uplift.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak plans to stop the extra £20-a-week payment in October – saying it is only temporary measure to help people through the pandemic.
But there are growing calls for it to be extended or made permanent.
Ministers from Holyrood, Cardiff and Stormont have raised concerns about the impact the cut will have on poverty.
They wrote a joint letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey, describing the change as the “biggest overnight reduction to a basic rate of social security since the modern welfare state began, more than 70 years ago”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last week he wanted the focus to be on better paid jobs, rather than welfare. He was speaking after two Tory MPs joined calls for the uplift to be made permanent.