The UK government announced this week that the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift will be continued for just six months. Removing a lifeline for children at the point they'll need it most.
A missed opportunity
In this week’s Budget the Chancellor had the opportunity to provide financial certainty to low-income families by keeping the £20pw Universal Credit uplift place for a year and extending it to legacy benefits.
It was disappointing that the Chancellor chose not to do this and instead announced it would be kept in place for a few months with no possibility of it being extended further. This means that vital support will be taken away just as furlough ends and unemployment is expected to peak.
Long term solutions are needed
While the extension will provide some help for families in the short term, children and their struggling parents across the UK will continue to face the prospect of having their incomes slashed by £80 a month in a few months’ time when people are most at risk of losing their jobs. It also provides no support to the 2 million people receiving so called ‘legacy’ benefits, who missed out on the first benefits uplift and have been left to struggle throughout this crisis with no additional help.
As we start to think about emerging from this crisis, the UK government is rightly focused on recovery. However, with unemployment set to peak any recovery plan must set out what will be done to help the poorest in society recover. Come October this £20 a week will still be a lifeline for children and a vital piece of financial support to enable low-income families to recover from the crisis.
Provide certainty for families
By putting the uplift in place, the UK government showed it clearly understood that low-income families would be hit incredibly hard by the crisis - and this has certainly been the case. In research we conducted with over 3,000 families on low incomes, we found that 70% of parents had had to cut back on essentials, due to financial issues caused by the pandemic and parents had mainly used the uplift to buy food, followed by paying rent and bills, along with buying items for school.
Extending the uplift for the next financial year would provide certainty for families and support the economy through another very difficult year as this is money that will be spent and put back into the economy.
It’s clear what needs to happen here.
Tell the government the lifeline must be kept
Help us show the UK government that the £20pw Universal Credit uplift must be kept in place for at least a year and extended to those on legacy benefits, to ensure all low-income families are given the opportunity to recover from this crisis.
Add your name and we’ll include it in our letter to the government.
