This is an important moment for the government to demonstrate how it will support families on a low income. Investing in social security protects those who need it most. This investment is highly cost-effective – reducing child poverty immediately and leading to improved education, employment and health outcomes, including life expectancy.
Several government ministers have churned out a line about work being the best route out of poverty, but does it hold any truth? The evidence submitted to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Poverty for its report suggests that this is far from the case.
A family’s ability to get universal credit is often based not on their actual circumstances, but on a fictional version of their circumstances. Welfare rights worker Carri Swann explains.
Removing the cap would mean an additional £65 a week, on average, in the pockets of capped households, meaning an average capped couple with 2 children would be £85 below the poverty line.
The Universal Credit (Removal of the Two Child Limit) Bill is a Private Members’ Bill brought forward by the Lord Bishop of Durham to remove the limit in universal credit (UC) that restricts support to just the first two children in a family. The second reading will take place on Friday 8 July.
The DWP has just confirmed that it's pressing ahead with managed migration (the process by which people on the old ‘legacy’ benefits will move to universal credit (UC)). Here are six reasons for alarm as the government forges ahead with its plans to move 1.7m people by the end of 2024.
At the start of the pandemic, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) relaxed some evidence checks for people making a universal credit (UC) claim to provide quicker access to benefits. In January 2021, the DWP began reverifying the details of claims made while evidence checks were eased. This has resulted in some claimants being asked to pay back the entirety of their UC award. More than a year after the exercise started, we continue to hear from people who have had their UC payments stopped, who have received demands to repay all the UC they received, and who are unable to understand or challenge the DWPs decision.