Universal Credit claimants get two weeks of extra payments to cut delay time – but not until 2020

UNIVERSAL Credit claimants will get two weeks of extra cash support when they move over to the new system - but it won't come in until 2020.

Chancellor Philip Hammond revealed yesterday he was extending an additional payment scheme to Brits on Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, and Income Support.

At the moment only people claiming housing benefit will get the fortnight of extra help, as revealed at last year's Budget.

But in future 1.1million more Brits transferring on to the new flagship benefits system will get extra help.

However, it won't come into effect until July 2020 - despite the rollout of Universal Credit for those on existing benefits starting next July.

That means the people who move over first next year will lose out.

The news is part of a series of announcements by the Chancellor in yesterday's Budget to help those on Universal Credit.

It included a multi-billion pound package to increase the work allowance by £1000 - meaning 2.4 million Brits on benefits (if they have responsibility for a child or limited capacity for work) will be able to keep £630 extra of their cash. That will come into place from April next year.

And ministers also revealed they will slash the rate that debt can be taken off payments from 40 per cent to 30 per cent - but again not until next October.

They will extend the period of time you can pay off debts as well from 12 to 16 months, but none of that help will come until October 2021.

The full rollout of Universal Credit has been pushed back to December 2023, when everyone is expected to be on the new system.

Torsten Bell, Director of the Resolution Foundation said of the news: "The Chancellor has also delivered a welcome boost to families on Universal Credit worth £630 a year. This will mean that the government’s flagship welfare reform is now more generous than the benefit system that it is replacing.

"While today’s reforms certainly won’t end all the problems some recipients have faced with Universal Credit, they should ease the rollout in the months and years ahead."

But Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd said it wouldn't cover all the costs of the Osborne cuts., and there were still issues with the new system.

He said: "UC’s serious design flaws were also not addressed, from long waiting times that are pushing people into indebtedness, to problems in how landlords are paid housing benefit.

"The pain caused by the roll-out of UC is not over yet."

Yesterday we revealed how a single mum is at risk of homelessness after going on to the new system - and isn't eligible for help with her mortgage debt payments.

Tina Davidson says she feels "tossed aside" by the system and has had to put the house she's lived in for 20 years up for sale to pay off debts.

The new system is designed to try and get more Brits into work and less reliant on the welfare system, but it's been beset with problems.

Many say it's pushing them into debt as the wait for the first payment is at least five weeks.

Others say they were driven to payday loans and even prostitution to try and make ends meet.

Ministers say they are constantly trying to fix the system's problems as they go along- and the new system is much less complicated than the old one.

Highlights of yesterday;s Budget include:

• The national living wage rising to £8.21 per hour, up 4.9 per cent on last year
• A £500million pot for No Deal Brexit preparations
• Fuel duty frozen for the ninth year in a row - in a victory for The Sun
• Duty on beer, cider and spirits frozen while tobacco tax goes up again
• An extra £2billion for mental health, with specialists installed in every school and hospital, and £650million for social care
• The Ministry of Defence will get another £1billion to keep Britain's military in shape
• New funding to repair crumbling roads across the country and end the country's pothole epidemic, adding up to £30billion over five years
• £400million for schools - adding up to £10,000 per primary and £50,000 for every secondary
• An increase of £160million for counter-terror policing
• The end of PFI contracts in the wake of Carillion's collapse
• £1.5billion more to help out the struggling High Street - including a cut to business rates
• Interest-free loans to Brits who can't repay their debts to payday lenders
• Tweaks to the law on weddings which will allow many more venues to host cut-price ceremonies
• Visitors from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan will be able to use e-gates at airports - currently open only to EU citizens
• A new 50p coin commemorating the moment we quit the EU in March next year

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online politics team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours