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No impact assessment made for scrapping Universal Credit uplift, government admits
No impact assessment has been made of the government’s decision to end the temporary £20 uplift for Universal Credit claimants in September, a minister has admitted.
A £20-a-week boost to the Universal Credit standard allowance has been in place since March 2020 to support six million claimants during the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the government does not want the higher rate to be permanent. Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, confirmed last week that the uplift will end on 30 September.
This comes despite significant political pressure not to cut off the extra support for households on welfare, including from some senior Conservatives.
In response to a written parliamentary question from Labour MP Kate Osamor, Will Quince, the welfare delivery minister, confirmed on Friday that no impact assessment has been made of the move.
He said: “The government has focused support on Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit claimants because they are more likely to be affected by the sudden economic shock of Covid-19 than other legacy benefit claimants.”
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The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the poverty charity, has previously warned that cancelling the £20 uplift will create serious financial hardship and pull 500,000 people into poverty, including 200,000 children, as low-income families lose £1,040 from their annual income overnight.
Speaking in front of the Work and Pensions Committee last week, Ms Coffey said: “Ahead of October we will start communicating with current claimants who receive £20 to make them aware that will be being phased out and they will start to see an adjustment in their payments.”
The announcement came despite cross-party calls from MPs for the uplift to be extended.
Among those opposed to the scrapping of the £20-a-week payment were six former Conservative work and pensions secretaries: Amber Rudd, Esther McVey, David Gauke, Damian Green, Stephen Crabb and Sir Iain Duncan Smith.
The group penned a letter to prime minister Boris Johnson in which they wrote: “As the economy reopens, and the government re-evaluates where it has been spending money, we ask that the current funding for individuals in the Universal Credit envelope be kept at the current level.”
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