Families to get paid quicker on Universal Credit and could get £200 a year boost to benefits next year, Amber Rudd says
FAMILIES could get a £200 boost to their benefits next year and get paid quicker on Universal Credit, Amber Rudd has said.
The DWP boss said she was fighting the Chancellor to get even more cash pumped into her welfare budget to lift the four-year freeze on payments.
And she said she would be demanding more cash for the new flagship benefit system, Universal Credit too.
She ";I want to see benefits rising so we can help people."
Last week it was confirmed that Brits on benefits will be £200 a year worse off next April as benefits continue to be frozen.
And she added: In the spending review I will be looking at how we can get more money into universal credit."
The new Cabinet minister has vowed to fix the problems with the new system, which rolls six payments into one.
Ms Rudd, who came back to the Cabinet after Esther McVey quit over Brexit, said she wanted to help single mums struggling, and women generally.
“I am a single mother . . . We need to be much clearer about the fact that we are not judging people," she added.
"There are many ways of having families. I don’t want us to be preaching to people about how they run their lives, I just want us to be there to support them."
She's said she wants to get "cast into people's hands earlier" and make it easier for Brits to get fortnightly payments rather than just monthly ones.
And her changes might include moves to ensure housing benefit gets directly to the landlords, reducing the burden for vulnerable people who struggle to get their rent paid.
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Brits have said the five-week wait to get their first payment has pushed them into debt.
Last week a mum who had breast cancer while on Universal Credit had to wait two months before she was able to get the cash to help bury her son - as she couldn't afford the funeral.
Desperate cancer patient Diane Hannaby, 52, was left in debt after waiting weeks to get help to afford the costs after Ashley died suddenly aged 34.
And it was also reported that one job centre was telling claimants they had to fork out £34 for a driving licence before they could apply for help.
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