The government has been urged to increase Universal Credit by £25 a week and give a one-off £250 payment to the country's lowest income families. The call came from leading think tank, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr).
It came as it released a report which warned the country was going to dip into recession. And it said around 1.5 million UK households will be left struggling to pay food and energy bills amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis.
Niesr warned soaring inflation compounded by the war in Ukraine will see many families hit with food and energy bills greater than their disposable income. Calling on the Government to offer emergency support, it predicted that more than 250,000 households will “slide into destitution” next year.
