There could be no worse moment to cut universal credit than the middle of a pandemic. The chancellor should give way
The government’s decision to raise universal credit payments by £20 a week last April, as part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, was a good one. With unemployed and underemployed claimants prevented from looking for work by the circumstances, disabled and sick claimants at elevated risk, and children stuck at home, this was a pragmatic way of alleviating pressure and reducing hardship. With only weeks to go before Rishi Sunak presents his spring budget, Conservatives on the front- and backbenches must now decide what happens next.
Following years of freezes, benefit levels were too low before the uplift. The decision to increase them was a tacit admission of this, made in part because ministers knew that the system was about to be deluged with new claimants. What old claimants were expected to put up with – and still are in the case of the 2 million people on “legacy benefits” that were not topped up – was judged too mean for those forced to turn to social security because of Covid.
