End to universal credit’s Covid top-up is fuelling rise in poverty, warns IFS

the IFS says that on a per-pound basis, the £20 pandemic uplift had a 40% larger effect on poverty than the replacement changes to work allowances and taper rates. Photograph: True Images/Alamy

The scrapping of the government’s £20-a-week pandemic boost to universal credit has set back the fight against poverty and led to an increase in the number of families struggling on low incomes, a leading thinktank will reveal this week.

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies seen by the Guardian shows that the emergency programme of universal credit (UC) support led to a sharp fall in the number of households living in absolute poverty during the 18 months it was in force.