NEARLY four million families will remain worse off due to the £20 Universal Credit uplift cut – despite changes in the budget set to help hard-up Brits.
The government introduced a £20 a week raise to help claimants through the coronavirus pandemic, but it was scrapped on October 6.
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A number of benefit boosts were set out in the budget that will help struggling Universal Credit claimants out.
This includes the taper rate being slashed to 55p – which will help those on Universal Credit keep more of their cash.
The taper currently reduces the amount Brits get by 63p in every £1, over a certain amount.
But now its been lowered to 55p, millions of Brits will be able to hang on to an extra £1,000 year, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in his budget last month.
However, this shake-up still won’t cover the amount that claimants have lost due to the end of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, according to the Resolution Foundation.
The think tank said more than half of all families will still be worse off by over £1,000 a year.
However, higher-earning families getting Universal Credit will benefit from the changes.
For example, a single-earner couple with two children and earning £30,000 will receive £2,800 under these new rules, compared to £2,200 before the removal of the £20 uplift.
Resolution Foundation senior economist Karl Handscomb said: “While welcome, these changes are not enough to offset the damage from the recent £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.
“While 1.3 million families on Universal Credit will be better off, almost three-quarters of UC families will see their incomes fall this autumn as the cost of living crunch bites.”
The Department for Work and Pensions was contacted for comment.
It comes as Brits are being battered with eye watering rises to their bills, from energy to food and fuel.
Customers are being hit with a £139 increase to their bills after the price cap rose last month.
That’s on top of the millions of Brits who face a crushing £400 hike in gas and electricity bills this winter should their supplier go bust.
Food prices are also on the up as well – Heinz’s boss told customers to get used to higher prices, while Morrisons has also warned the cost of goods will go up.
These price hikes are helping to drive up the cost of inflation, experts have warned, meaning a Brits could have to stump up an extra £1,800 by the end of the year just to get by.
Budget: Massive Universal Credit shake-up so 2million can keep an extra £1,000 a year
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