UK Budget 2021 Benefit Claimants Live to Fight Another Day

BUDGET DAY - The budget was not all bad. 

The £20-per-week boost to universal credit will be extended until the end of September, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in the Budget.

The government will also give working tax credit claimants an equivalent increase for the next six months. This will be done through a one-off payment of £500.

 Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

“Child poverty levels were already too high pre-pandemic yet children and parents were noticeable by their absence from this budget. Extending the £20 uplift is vital because struggling families cannot keep afloat without it, but that will be as true in six months as it is now. This decision only postpones the pain. The chancellor promised certainty to business – children and their families deserve no less.”

Thomas Lawson, chief executive at Turn2us, said: “There is much in this budget that those of us struggling with money will welcome; especially the extension of the furlough scheme, expanding the Self-Employed Support Scheme, and the rise in the National Living Wage. However, the decision to only extend the Universal Credit uplift for six months will have far-reaching consequences for those of us dependent on this income. Especially the half a million families who are expected to fall into poverty as a result – directly challenging the governments own commitment to levelling up.

 “Our social security system has endured years of cuts, freezes and austerity. The £20 uplift went some way to making up this shortfall but is still significantly less than people received a decade ago. Today our government could have taken the opportunity to fundamentally and permanently make our social security system fit for purpose. We will now continue to work in partnership to make the case that the £20 uplift should both be made permanent, and extended to legacy benefits. Only then will we be able to see a full financial recovery which leaves no one behind.”

Simon Collyer founder of the Association of Pension & Benefit Claimants CIC said 'It could have been a lot worse, the chancellor is right to let the economy get off its knees before making any drastic changes. Considering all the talk about the Great Reset, not much has changed in reality. Overall we didn't expect better - we have clung on to the tiny £20 a week extra, money taken and replaced from 14 billion in cuts since 2010'.  

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