Families ‘could lose all benefits’ under universal credit
Charities have warned that the government’s proposed ‘universal credit’ system could result in families losing all their benefit payments while one component is re-calculated.
The universal credit will roll all benefits into a single payment for new claimants from 2013. Existing claimants will be transferred to the regime over the next decade.
Representatives from Carers UK, Family Action and the Building and Social Housing Foundation told MPs this week that combining benefits into a single payment could cause problems if a family’s circumstances changed.
Emily Holzhausen, director of policy and public affairs at Carers UK, told the work and pensions select committee she was concerned a family might lose its housing benefit while another part of the overall payment was being calculated.
Sam Royston, policy and campaigns officer at Family Action, said the government should keep the conditions on which each benefit is paid ‘separate within the system’.
‘I do not think it would add to the complexity from the claimant’s point of view,’ he added.
Jim Vine, head of housing policy at the Building and Social Housing Foundation, cautioned that a move from paying housing benefit through councils to a national system would cause a loss of local knowledge relating to claims from Gypsy and Traveller groups and hostel residents.