OVER half of the people claiming Universal Credit are going without food and losing sleep over fears about their finances, according to new research.
Citizens Advice, who carried out the study, blames the five-week wait for Universal Credit for pushing families into poverty.
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It also puts it down to the government’s benefits freeze, which means the amount people can claim hasn’t changed since 2016 despite inflation.
Around 55 per cent of hard-up people claiming the newest benefit payments have skipped meals to save cash, while 51 per cent say money woes keep them up at night.
Scores of parents who’ve gone without have got in touch with The Sun for our Make Universal Credit Work campaign, such as mum-of-three Demi Morris.
The 46-year-old struggles to put food on the table after the five-week wait for cash pushed her into debt.
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And single-mum Lauren Anderson, 24, and her baby often go without food due because she can’t afford to pay the bills and put food on the table with her Universal Credit payment.
The study found that one in six households in the UK rely on welfare payouts – including the old system – with 49 per cent struggling to meet essential costs, such as rent and household bills.
Two fifths of families who claim have less than £100 at the end of every month once their mortgage, food, council tax and household bills have been paid.
Parents and disabled people are more likely to go without essentials, with 45 per cent and 44 per cent respectively missing out in the past 12 months.
Like The Sun’s campaign, Citizen’s Advice wants the Universal Credit wait time to be reduced to two weeks.
The Sun wants to Make Universal Credit Work
UNIVERSAL Credit replaces six benefits with a single monthly payment.
One million people are already receiving it and by the time the system is fully rolled out in 2023, nearly 7 million will be on it.
But there are big problems with the flagship new system – it takes 5 weeks to get the first payment and it could leave some families worse off by thousands of pounds a year.
And while working families can claim back up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, they must find the money to pay for childcare upfront – we’ve heard of families waiting up to 6 months for the money.
Working parents across the country told us they’ve been unable to take on more hours – or have even turned down better paid jobs or more hours because of the amount they get their benefits cut.
It’s time to Make Universal Credit work. We want the Government to:
- Get paid faster: The Government must slash the time Brits wait for their first Universal Credit payments from five to two weeks, helping stop 7 million from being pushed into debt.
- Keep more of what you earn: The work allowance should be increased and the taper rate should be slashed from 63p to 50p, helping at least 4 million families.
- Don’t get punished for having a family: Parents should get the 85 per cent of the money they can claim for childcare upfront instead of being paid in arrears.
Together, these changes will help Make Universal Credit Work.
Join our Universal Credit Facebook group or email UniversalCredit@the-sun.co.uk to share your story.
It’s also calling for the way housing benefit is calculated is brought back into align with local rent increases.
Gillian Guy, from Citizens Advice, said that even though the system is designed to help those in need, that’s not always the case.
She added: “We’ve found people are losing sleep and unable to afford essential things like food and housing while receiving Universal Credit.
“It is totally unacceptable that our benefits system is not providing the financial safety net that people need.
“The government needs to take urgent action in this week’s spending review by reducing the five-week wait for Universal Credit and ending the freeze on benefit rates.”
A government spokesperson told The Sun: “Tackling poverty will always be a priority for this government.
“There are no current plans to extend or maintain the benefit freeze after March 2020.
“Income inequality and absolute poverty are lower than in 2010, but we know some families need more support, which is why we continue to spend £95billion a year on working-age benefits.
“Universal Credit is supporting more than two million people and it’s working for the vast majority.
“Advance payments provide money urgently for people if they need it, and there are measures in place to ensure repayments are affordable.”
Up to 10,000 Brits on the old benefits system have started to be moved onto Universal Credit this summer.
The process is called managed migration but it’s been slammed by critics for putting vulnerable people at risk.
If the amount of money someone would get on Universal Credit is less than they are getting now, those in the pilot will get ‘transitional cash’ to cushion the blow.
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