Public in favour of keeping universal Credit lifeline

Over a million people fear they will be forced to skip meals and switch off their heating this winter if the government goes ahead with its plan to cut Universal Credit payments by £20 a week next month.

New findings from the Trussell Trust argues that, faced with a cut of £20 a week, 1.2 million people claiming Universal Credit say they will very likely need to skip meals and 1.3 million say they will very likely be unable to afford to heat their homes this winter. Additionally, nearly a million say they are very likely to need to use a food bank as a result of the cut.

The charity says that it is especially worrying that constituents in regions targeted for the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda are especially likely to fear they will struggle to meet their basic needs. In the North East of England, for example, people are nearly twice as likely to fear they won’t be able to heat their homes this winter compared with the average UC claimant in the UK.

The polling shows that 77 per cent of current Universal Credit claimants are struggling to keep up with bills and credit commitments. Well over a million have cut back on food for at least a day (1.9 million) and gone without basic toiletries (1.4 million) because they couldn’t afford them in the last 30 days.