People struggling with the pressures of rising household costs could receive an emergency boost to their Universal Credit payments of more than £700 with a new emergency lifeline.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has asked Policy in Practice to look at the costs and consequences of three options to give the benefit a much-needed rise during the cost of living crisis. The first option would mean increasing DWP benefits as though they had been given a 10 per cent rise in April 2022, rather than the 3.1 per cent that was applied at that time.
At a cost of £3.1 billion to the Government, the move would mean 4.2 million households would gain an average of £729 a year, equivalent to an extra £60 a month. The CSJ adds that its second option would be to restore the Universal Credit uplift, in which an additional £1,000 a year was given to claimants over 18 months of the pandemic. Reinstating this would cost £4.2 billion.
