DWP: Dozen top professors demand end to Universal Credit children's cuts in the Budget

A dozen top professors have demanded cruel cuts to children’s Universal Credit are axed in the Budget.

The social policy experts say the two-child limit – which has hit more than 592,000 kids in 157,000 families since it launched in 2017 – is driving children to poverty and food banks.

They also demand a cut to the five-week wait for Universal Credit in the March 11 Budget – warning the move could “help thousands of people now” and urging the Tories not to “stand by”.

Twenty-three social policy university academics, 12 of whom are professors including from York, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Birmingham and Warwick, have written to Boris Johnson and new Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Their letter is also backed by 78 Labour MPs, the Unison, Unite, Usdaw and GMB unions, and local branches of foodbanks and Citizens Advice.

Wirral South MP Alison McGovern, who organised the ‘Making Ends Meet’ campaign, said: “The Tories have overseen a massive increase in food poverty over the past decade.

“Yet Boris Johnson said he wants the UK to be the greatest country on earth.

“He has the chance to lift kids out of poverty at the Budget in three weeks’ time – it’s time the Conservatives did the right thing by ending the two-child limit and reducing waiting times for Universal Credit.”

Since April 2017 families can only claim the child element of UC – £232 a month – for their first two children.

Despite an extension to children born before 2017 being called off, the policy has hit the benefits of 157,000 families containing 592,000 children in its first two years.

Scrapping the two-child limit would cost £2billion per year in the long run.

That is the same amount the Tories will spend raising the National Insurance threshold from £8,788 to £9,500 this April – a move the IFS think tank says will mainly help middle and higher earners.

And it is just a quarter of the £8bn-a-year Boris Johnson pledged in his leadership campaign to spend on income tax for £50,000 earners – a plan he later shelved.

Meanwhile MPs and charities have demanded the five-week wait for families’ first Universal Credit payment is cut. It was reduced from six weeks in 2018, but thousands are taking out advances against their own benefits to pay basic bills.

The letter warns more than a third of emergency food bank parcels go to children.

It tells the Chancellor: “It is a basic minimum that everyone in our country should be able to feed themselves without needing emergency food parcels.

“But since 2010, foodbank use has grown in the UK. Demand is rising every year.

“According to the Trussell Trust, low income, benefit delays and changes are the main reasons people need emergency food. Often, households using foodbanks have only £50 a week after paying rent.”

It adds: “We want to see a credible plan to end the need for foodbanks in the Budget.

“The need for long-term change is not an excuse for standing by whilst the problem continues to get worse due to Government policy.”

A DWP spokesman said: “With Universal Credit nobody has to wait five weeks to receive money and people can get paid urgently if they need it.

“The two child policy ensures fairness by asking all adults to make the same financial choices about having children.”

The letter in full

Dear Prime Minister and Chancellor,

Making Ends Meet: please give us a Budget to end the need for foodbanks

It is a basic minimum that everyone in our country should be able to feed themselves without needing emergency food parcels. But since 2010, foodbank use has grown in the UK. Demand is rising every year. According to the Trussell Trust, low income, benefit delays and changes are the main reasons people need emergency food. Often, households using foodbanks have only £50 a week after paying rent.

More than a third of emergency food parcels go to children and the Government should be doing more to help them and their families.

We want to see a credible plan to end the need for foodbanks in the Budget on 11 March 2020. Practical and affordable measures – such as the ones in my report – could make a real difference.

Specifically:

1. Removing the two-child limit in Universal Credit

2. Reducing the waiting time for Universal Credit

Longer-term labour market changes to ensure parents and carers are supported at work as well as improvements to our mental health system are also required but these two first steps are essential and could help thousands of people now.

The need for long-term change is not an excuse for standing by whilst the problem continues to get worse due to Government policy. The Budget on 11 March will be a test of whether the British people can trust the Government to change the country for the better. We urge the Government to use the Budget to help people make ends meet.

Yours sincerely,

Alison McGovern MP

Rushanara Ali MP

Rosena Allin-Khan MP

Mike Amesbury MP

Tonia Antoniazzi MP

Apsana Begum MP

Hilary Benn MP

Paul Blomfield MP

Tracy Brabin MP

Ben Bradshaw MP

Karen Buck MP

Ian Byrne MP

Ruth Cadbury MP

Sarah Champion MP

Feryal Clark MP

Yvette Cooper MP

Rosie Cooper MP

Neil Coyle MP

Stella Creasy MP 

Janet Daby MP

Alex Davies-Jones MP

Marsha De Cordova MP

Tan Dhesi MP

Anneliese Dodds MP

Rosie Duffield MP

Maria Eagle MP

Angela Eagle MP

Julie Elliott MP

Florence Eshalomi MP

Yvonne Fovargue MP

Mary Foy MP

Preet Kaur Gill MP

Kate Green MP

Lilian Greenwood MP

Carolyn Harris MP

Helen Hayes MP

Margaret Hodge MP

Sharon Hodgson MP

George Howarth MP

Rupa Huq MP

Diana Johnson MP 

Sarah Jones MP

Ruth Jones MP

Gerald Jones MP 

Liz Kendall MP

Afzal Khan MP

Stephen Kinnock MP

Peter Kyle MP 

Emma Lewell-Buck MP

Justin Madders MP

Khalid Mahmood MP

Seema Malhotra MP

Rachael MasKell MP

Chris Matheson MP

Catherine McKinnell MP

Anna McMorrin MP

Jessica Morden MP

Ian Murray MP

Charlotte Nichols MP

Abena Oppong-Asare MP

Sarah Owen MP

Matthew Pennycook MP

Jess Phillips MP

Bridget Phillipson MP

Yasmin Qureshi MP

Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

Virendra Sharma MP

Tulip Siddiq MP

Jeff Smith MP

Alex Sobel MP

Jo Stevens MP

Wes Streeting MP

Gareth Thomas MP

Karl Turner MP

Derek Twigg MP

Claudia Webbe MP

Catherine West MP

Nadia Whittome MP

Mohammad Yasin MP

Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison

Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary, Unite

Paddy Lillis, General Secretary, USDAW

Neil Smith, North West Political Officer, GMB

Cllr David Baines, Leader, St Helens Council

Cllr Graham Whitham, Trafford Council 

Cllr Ann O’Byrne, Liverpool City Council

Dr Lorenza Antonucci, Department of Social Policy, University of Birmingham

Professor Karen Rowlingson, Department of Social Policy, University of Birmingham

Dr Jo Ingold, Associate Professor, University of Leeds

Dr Kitty Stewart, Associate Professor, London School of Economics

Dr Derek Kirton, Social Policy and Social Work, University of Kent

Professor Peter Dwyer, Social Policy, University of York

Dr Claire Thompson, University of Hertfordshire

Professor Wendy Wills, food and public health, University of Hertfordshire

Professor Alan Deacon, Social Policy, University of Leeds

Professor Caroline Glendinning, social policy, University of York

Professor John Veit-Wilson, Sociology, Newcastle University

Professor Adrian Sinfield, Social Policy, University of Edinburgh

Dr Gideon Calder, Sociology and Social Policy, Swansea University

Dr Dave Beck, Social Policy, University of Salford

Dr Mark Wilding, Social and Public Policy, University of Salford

Dr Katy Jones, Senior Research Associate, Manchester Metropolitan University

Professor Sara Ashencaen Crabtree, social and cultural diversity, Bournemouth University

Professor Jonathan Parker, Society and Social Welfare, Bournemouth University

Peter Taylor Gooby, Social Policy, University of Kent

Professor Liz Dowler, food and social policy, University of Warwick

Professor Lisa Scullion, University of Salford

Pete Ritchie, Executive Director, Nourish Scotland

Joyce Leggate, Chair, Kirkcaldy Foodbanks

Chelsea Marshall, Senior Project Officer, Nourish Scotland

Frank Hont, Chair of Trustee Board, Citizens Advice Liverpool

Pauline Buchan, Kirkcaldy Cottage Family Centre

Professor Fiona Williams, school of sociology and social policy University of Leeds

Dr Margaret May, Senior Research Fellow, Birmingham University