Universal Credit claimants will be left 'destitute' if government cuts payments by £20 a week, Citizen's Advice's Leeds branch says

The Government offered an "uplift" worth just over £1,000 a year to struggling families on Universal Credit at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

But there were no guarantees the extra cash would still be provided after March, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying on Wednesday that the situation is "under review".

Citizen's Advice (CA), which has seen a sharp rise in people seeking support from it since the start of the pandemic, said keeping the money in place was vital to prevent households falling further into financial difficulties.

The number of people in Leeds claiming Universal Credit has increased by 60 per cent since 2019.

Addressing Leeds councillors at a scrutiny meeting on Thursday, Marliyn Bannister, a service delivery manager for CA said: "If we lose the £20 a week on Universal Credit it's gong to cause destitution.

"People at the moment are not managing. If they lose the £20 a week they will be in destitution.

"Anything you can do around lobbying on that will be gratefully received by Citizen's Advice and other agencies.

"The issue is around people not having money.

"If people had enough money then we wouldn't have to put so many resources in place.

"People are given dignity and choice if they have the money, and they haven't got that if they have to go to a foodbank."

The council confirmed on Wednesday that it would write to the government to express their concerns over the issue, after a Labour motion on the subject was passed at a full council meeting.

The authority's deputy leader, Debra Coupar, said that the government was working its benefits policy around an "assumption that there are jobs out there".

She said: "That just doesn't work during this emergency. There are no jobs out there.

"I think that because of the benefit freeze that there was over a number of years, people were already on the back foot.

When the government gave the £20 uplift it was welcome, but it's nowhere near enough where benefit levels should be.

"I want the £20 to stay and become a permanent fixture."

The Leeds branch of trade union Unite have also joined in calls to keep the uplift in place.

In a statement issued on Thursday, branch secretary Heather Blakey said: "What Covid-19 has cruelly exposed is the inadequacy of the current welfare system, one of the weakest in Europe, and the entrenched inequalities for some of the country’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged families.

"The permanent uplift of £20 a week would be a small step in easing the already immense burden of thousands of people struggling financially to pay for the essentials of life on a daily basis - we are delighted that Leeds City Council has backed this campaign.

"There must be no cuts to Universal Credit."

Local Democracy Reporting Service