Millions on Universal Credit not yet sent letters warning about £20 a week benefits cut that’s just weeks away

MILLIONS of Brits have not yet been sent letters warning of a £20-a-week cut to benefits.

Universal Credit claimants will lose cash from an uplift first introduced by the government to provide support through coronavirus.

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That help is set to be scrapped by the end of September, but letters have still not been finalised, The Mirror reports.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) boss Thérèse Coffey told MPs at the start of July that letters or phone calls letting people know would start going out within the coming weeks.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds will write to Ms Coffey today, the newspaper reports, calling it “deeply troubling” that six million families who will lose £1,000 a year have not been told yet.

Six former Conservative work and pension secretaries recently urged the Chancellor to keep the uplift to Universal Credit in place.

Charities have warned that removing the uplift could plunge more families into poverty.

The number of people claiming benefits has risen from three to six million because of Covid.

Former Tory leader and instigator of Universal Credit Sir Iain Duncan Smith wrote a letter to try and persuade chancellor Rishi Sunak to stick with the £5 billion benefits investment.

Five of his successors – Stephen Crabb, Damian Green, David Gauke, Esther McVey and Amber Rudd – have also written arguing that the uplift needs to continue once restrictions are lifted.

The emergency measures were first launched in April 2020 among a range of support that also included furlough.

It was extended in the March Budget, when the closing date was shifted from April 1 to October 1.

The DWP has been contacted for comment.

Cold-calls pressuring vulnerable people into accepting lower benefit amounts will end after the DWP agreed to change its rules.

Families have been dealt a major blow affecting millions of children, after the courts dismissed a case fighting against the two-child cap on benefits.

Two million Brits on benefits could be in line for a payout worth £1,560 if the Government loses a legal challenge after excluding them Covid support.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk