The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been urged to introduce a £25 weekly uplift to Universal Credit and other legacy benefits. MPs from the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP) said the Government should reintroduce and expand the policy that saw Universal Credit claimants get an extra £20 a week during the pandemic.
In the House of Commons on Monday (Mar 6), Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain and SNP MP David Lindem put the proposal to Mims Davies, DWP Minister for Social Mobility, Youth and Progression. They argued that the uplift would help reduce food bank usage among those struggling most with the cost of living crisis, the Daily Record reports.
During the pandemic, Universal Credit was increased by £20 a week to help people cope with the economic impact of lockdowns. However, people on older, legacy benefits were excluded from the extra money.
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Ms Chamberlain told MPs: “In the long term, to end the need for additional cost of living payments we need economic growth, we need more people able to work and we need a healthier society. Poverty is the enemy of all those things.”
The North East Fife MP continued: “Poverty breeds worse health outcomes, it makes people cold and hungry and it drives away hope and drive. That is nobody’s fault except those who choose to look away and do nothing, and that is why we need the Government to review reinstating the uplift to Universal Credit and extending it to legacy benefits.
“It is why Carer's Allowance needs reforming, and it is why we need all the cost of living payments at once, now, as a circuit breaker.”
Ms Chamberlain had previously called for all cost of living payments – worth up to £1,350 – to be paid all together, before April 1. That proposal was rejected by the DWP.
The SNP's David Lindem also said it would be in the best interests of struggling households for the uplift to be brought back and raised to £25. He argued that it would help to reduce people's reliance on food banks.
He said: “Alongside colleagues from across the House, I have campaigned hard to retain the £20 uplift to Universal Credit. Indeed, we asked for it to be extended to legacy benefits.
“It was a great policy from the British Government, which was warmly welcomed, including by my party. It is no coincidence that we saw food bank usage reduce as the uplift was in place. Likewise, it was no coincidence that food bank usage increased as the uplift was taken away.”
He continued: “Since its removal, I have heard anecdotally that many people have struggled with the sudden loss of income - the largest drop in support in the modern welfare state. Any of us who interact with our constituents can outline how challenging that has been.”
Mr Lindem also spoke of how excluding legacy benefits claimants from the pandemic uplift had affected disabled people. People with disabilities are more likely to be on these older benefits.
He said: “It is widely acknowledged that disabled people are far more likely to live in poverty than non-disabled people and are particularly vulnerable to the rising cost of living. Despite that knowledge, legacy benefit claimants, many of whom are long-term sick or disabled, were unjustly denied that uplift during the pandemic.
“That was a monumental injustice, and it certainly adversely financially impacted many people throughout the pandemic, which was already causing heightened health anxiety. It is only right that an assessment be made of the failure to extend the uplift to legacy benefit claimants.”
DWP minister Mims Davies did not respond to the proposals in her closing remarks. The Government is raising all benefits and the State Pension by 10.1% in April, in line with September 2022's inflation figure.
Cost of Living payments are also being made to the most vulnerable people in society. Last year, a £650 payment was made to those on certain means-tested benefits, and extra payments were also made to people with disabilities and pensions.
Over the 2023/24 financial year, a further £900 cost of living payment will be made to people on means-tested benefits. Meanwhile people on disability benefits will receive a £150 payment and pensioners will get an extra £300.
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