Millions of Universal Credit claimants WON’T be better off despite Budget funding boost – here’s why

MILLIONS of Brits on benefits who don’t have kids won’t be better off after the Budget shake up, it was revealed yesterday.

The major changes revealed by Philip Hammond this week to the new flagship system won’t come in for months, and are set to exclude some groups.

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The Chancellor said he would increase the work allowance for those on Universal Credit by £1000, meaning working Brits, or those who are disabled can keep £630 extra every year of their own money.

But Brits on benefits are only eligible for a work allowance if they have kids or have a limited capacity for work. 2.4million are expected to get a boost.

The work allowances are £198 a month if your benefits includes housing support, or £409 without it.

But respected think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies said there would be around 2.3million Brits who would not benefit.

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They said: “For many people this increase in work allowances will essentially undo the cuts announced by George Osborne in 2015 – though not for the childless non-disabled.

“Their work allowances were cut to zero in 2015 and there they remain.”

Labour’s John McDonnell said today there was “nothing for Universal Credit recipients who are single and without children”.

Households on the minimum wage, working full-time with with no dependent children are still expected to be £610 worse off than they were in 2015, think tanks estimated.

Changes set to come in in 2020 will mean Brits will be able to get an extra two weeks of benefits from Jobseeker’s Allowance, ESA and Income Support as a result of yesterday’s changes.

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That’s in addition to housing benefit, which already sees Brits get paid an extra fortnight of help when they switch over.

But those waiting for working tax credits or child tax credits on the new system will continue to be left high and dry for that cash for the full five weeks.

David Finch, Senior Fellow at the Resolution Foundation said: “Of course, these welcome changes won’t solve all of the problems surrounding UC, particularly as the extra two-weeks of benefit
payments for those making a new claim won’t apply to tax credits, and transitional arrangements temporarily patch, rather than fix, underlying design flaws.

“But it does at least show that the government is starting to listen to the experts, and making significant improvements to the system.”

The IFS added that there are still around £4billion of net welfare cuts set to be made to the overall budget, which would include the freezing of most working age benefits again from next April.

This is set to be confirmed in the coming weeks, causing another 12 months of misery for families.

That will cost working families another £200 a year worse off in 2019.

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Jessica Prestidge, senior researcher at Bright Blue warned: “Despite these welcome changes to Universal Credit, many low-income families will continue to face a significant squeeze on their real incomes thanks to unnecessary and deep cuts to working-aged benefits. They will not feel that austerity is over.”

Brits going onto the new system have said they are left waiting weeks and months for payment, and are being driven into debt.

This week we told how a single mum is at risk of homelessness after falling behind with her housing payments under Universal Credit.

Last week a damning report claimed that almost half were in debt within nine months of going onto the new system.