Have you ever tried to live on benefits? Lockdown was a wake up call for many who had chanted ‘scrounger’ for years at those feckless oiks who wouldn’t or couldn’t work. The pandemic showed ordinary, ‘hardworking people’ that employment misfortune could strike at any time, and that living on bare bones benefits could be a struggle. We’re not talking furlough funding, we’re talking the sums those who suddenly lost work could live on.
The Government was so scared of what people might think, suddenly forced to live on so little, that they gave basic benefits a little boost during this time, by £20 per week (£1,040 a year), up from around £70 in normal times. But they didn’t add this extra cash to old-school benefits. Two million disabled people didn't get anything extra. Determined to push people on to Universal Credit (UC), and citing creaky old computer systems for the old-style benefits, the Government said it couldn’t be done.
Everyone on means-tested benefits is supposed to switch over to Universal Credit by the end of 2024. And the Government has said that people won’t lose money in doing so. But this simply isn’t true. It quotes figures such as 40% of people will be better off. Which is another way of saying that 60% of people won’t be better off.
