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NHF and PlaceShapers among 100 signatories on letter urging government not to cut Universal Credit
Housing bodies and charities are among 100 organisations to have signed an open letter to Boris Johnson urging him not to go ahead with a £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit in October.
Co-ordinated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), the letter is backed by the National Housing Federation, PlaceShapers, the Northern Housing Consortium, Shelter and Crisis among others.
It warns the prime minister that the cut “will pile unnecessary financial pressure on around 5.5 million families, both in and out of work” and risks causing “immense, immediate and avoidable hardship”.
Pressure over the issue continues to mount, with this letter representing the largest coalition of organisations speaking out to date.
Last week, two of Mr Johnson’s MPs wrote to him expressing “very serious concerns” about the move, while six former Conservative work and pensions secretaries have also previously asked him to reconsider.
The devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined the calls to keep the £20-a-week top-up earlier this week.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, the government boosted the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit by £20 a week as millions faced job and income losses.
But after an initial six-month extension, ministers have repeatedly confirmed their intention to scrap the top-up from 6 October.
It means millions on the breadline are facing a £1,040-a-year drop in their annual income, the biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the Second World War according to the JRF.
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Analysis by the foundation has indicated that the cut risks pushing 500,000 people into poverty – 200,000 of which would be children.
The government has insisted the uplift was always temporary and that its focus should now be on supporting jobs.
But the open letter argued that the boost was “a tacit admission” that cuts and freezes to the benefit system since 2010 “had left it unfit to provide the support families need”.
It added: “We are at risk of repeating the same mistakes that were made after the last economic crisis, where our country’s recovery was too often not felt by people on the lowest incomes.
“The erosion of social security support was one of the main drivers of the rise in in-work and child poverty, and contributed to a soaring need for foodbanks, rising debt and worsening health inequalities.”
Claire Higgins, vice-chair of PlaceShapers and chief executive of Cross Keys Homes, said: “Our members are writing to their MPs showing the impact of the cut on their constituents and communities.
“The letter to the prime minister shows the scope and scale of opposition to the cut, including six former Conservative work and pensions secretaries.
“To keep this increase means a lifeline for millions of people, allowing them to live more optimistically and be part of a ‘build back better’ Britain.”
The government has spent a total of £400bn on its response to the coronavirus pandemic, mainly through the furlough scheme and support for businesses and public services.
By October, the Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit uplift will have cost £9bn.
A government spokesperson said: “As announced by the chancellor at the Budget, the uplift to Universal Credit was always temporary.
“It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so.
“Universal Credit will continue to provide vital support for those both in and out of work and it’s right that the government should focus on our Plan for Jobs, supporting people back into work and supporting those already employed to progress and earn more.”
The signatories to the letter are:
Action For Children
Advice NI
APLE Collective
The Association of Charitable Organisations
Become
Bevan Foundation
The Big Issue
Bright Blue
The British Association of Social Workers
British Psychological Society
Business in the Community
Carers UK
Caritas Social Action Network
Centre for Cities
Centrepoint
Child Poverty Action Group
Children England
Christians Against Poverty
Church Action on Poverty
Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice Scotland
Citizens UK
Communities that Work
Crisis
Disability Benefits Consortium (a network of more than 100 disability organisations)
Employment Related Services Association
End Child Poverty Coalition
End Furniture Poverty
The Equality Trust
Faculty of Public Health
Family Fund
Feeding Britain
The Food Foundation
Generation Rent
Gingerbread (a charity for single-parent families)
Greater Manchester Poverty Action
The Health Foundation
Homeless Link
The Hygiene Bank
Independent Food Aid Network
Institute for Public Policy Research
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Jubilee Debt Campaign
Learning and Work Institute
Little Village
Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales
Macmillan Cancer Support
Mental Health Foundation
Mind
Money Advice Trust
The MS Society
National AIDS Trust
National Association of Head Teachers
National Children’s Bureau
National Education Union
National Housing Federation
National Residential Landlords Association
National Survivor User Network
Neighbourly
New Economics Foundation
North East Child Poverty Commission
Northern Housing Consortium
Octavia
One Parent Families Scotland
Oxfam GB
PlaceShapers
Policy in Practice
The Poverty Alliance
Poverty Truth Community
Rethink Mental Illness
Royal National Institute of Blind People
Royal National Institute for Deaf People
The Robertson Trust
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal Society for Public Health
Runnymede Trust
The Salvation Army
Save the Children
Scope
Scottish Out of School Care Network
Shelter
St Mungo’s
Standard Life Foundation
StepChange Debt Charity
Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming
SVP Northern Ireland
Transforming Lives for Good
The Trussell Trust
Trust for London
Trades Union Congress
Turn2us
UCL Institute of Health Equity
UK Women’s Budget Group
Women’s Regional Consortium – Northern Ireland
Working Families
Young Lives vs Cancer
Young Women’s Trust
Z2K
4in10 – London’s Child Poverty Network
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