12 March 2018
Up to now, all families receiving universal credit have been eligible for free school meals. However, from 1 April 2018 in England, the Government plans to introduce a new earnings limit so that families on universal credit earning over £7,400 a year (after tax and national insurance) are no longer eligible.
07 March 2018
Latest figures show that child poverty is rising. There are currently 4 million children living in poverty in the UK, and there are projected to be 5.1 million by 2021. While the government doesn’t seem to want to acknowledge this reality, most starkly illustrated by its refusal to discuss the impact of universal credit on child poverty, others are keen to find practical ways to address the problem.
09 February 2018
The roll-out of Universal Credit may be running five years later than planned, having wasted £40 million in botched IT, and been emasculated by austerity cuts since 2015, but its advocates in the DWP still argue that it is all going to be worthwhile in the end because its labour supply effects will get people into work and onto higher earnings
05 February 2018
CPAG has responded to the government's consultation on setting an earnings threshold for eligibility to free school meals in universal credit. We believe that all children in families eligible for universal credit should continue to receive free school meals, as per the current legal situation.
The appointment of the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey, has caused a stir, especially coming shortly after her predecessor had shown some willingness to address universal credit design problems.
The implementation of universal credit has been beset with problems. Here, Ros White considers the effect on claimants of the delays to the universal credit roll-out and the government’s failure to fully address the complexities involved.
The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) is an independent, non-partisan, statutory body of experts, set up in 1980 to advise the Secretary of State on secondary legislation and to scrutinise how social security policy will be implemented.
CPAG’s new report, The Austerity Generation, sets out the effect of a decade of cuts to social security on family incomes and child poverty, based on modelling by the Institute for Public Policy Research.
22 November 2017
“We were the first to sound the alarm over the waiting days for universal credit, so we’re pleased the Chancellor has acted to remove them and put in place new arrangements for receiving advances as part of an emergency rescue package, but this should have been the budget that ushered in much needed structural reform of Universal Credit"
10 November 2017
Read our briefing for Peers in advance of two debates in the House of Lords on Thursday, 16th November: Debate: Impact of Universal Credit on claimants; Short debate: Inflation impact on families affected by benefit freeze
