Universal Credit Cuts - DWP Minister Will Quince MP Admits In a Parliamentary Response 'No Assessment Has Been Made' of Effects of Removing £20 Uplift

UNIVERSAL CREDIT CUT - In England, Scotland and Wales, the number of private rented households in receipt of Universal Credit with an entitlement to housing support as part of the payment has increased by almost 107% from 746,694 in February 2020 to 1,545,024 in February 2021.

As of February 2021, over 55% of these households (858,606) have a gap between their housing cost support and the rent they had to pay. 

• The Work and Pensions Minister, Will Quince MP, has noted that in such cases the median shortfall is £100 a month. See https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-05-24/6183.
• On the 19^th July, responding to a written parliamentary question from the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds MP, asking what assessment the DWP has made of the potential effect of removing the uplift to the universal credit standard allowance on rent arrears accrued by universal credit claimants, the Work and Pensions Minister, Will Quince MP, responded:

“No assessment has been made.”

How much your Universal Credit will be cut

The standard allowance of Universal Credit will change as follows under the following payment category scenarios:

• The 2021 payment for those who are single and under 25 - will drop from £344 to £264
• The 2021 payment for those who are single and 25 or over - will drop from £411.51 to £331.51
• The 2021 payment for a couple who are both under 25 - will drop from £490.60 to £410.60 (that is a total not an amount for each person)
• The 2021 payment for a couple who are both 25 or over - will drop from £596.58 to £516.58 (that is a total not an amount for each person)

Those amounts will remain in place until April 2022, when an inflation-based rise is set to be applied.

Other components of Universal Credit will stay the same.

So if you get extra for children, disabilities or caring for a severely disabled person, those amounts will be untouched for the rest of this financial year. These additional amounts are listed below.

Extra for children

Claimants can get additional amounts of Universal Credit if they have one or two children.

Mums have lost a court battle to try to remove the DWP's two-child limit so if you have three or more kids, you'll only get extra for these children if

• they were born before April 6, 2017 when the two-child limit started
• you were already claiming for three or more children before that date
• there are special circumstances such as children being part of a multiple birth (twins, triplets, quadruplets, etc), if they were adopted, if you are not their parents but have an arrangement to care for them, or if they were conceived as a result of rape or an abusive relationship.

The amounts paid out are:

• For your first child if they were born before April 6, 2017 - £282.50
• For your first child if they were born on or after April 6, 2017 - £237.08
• For your second child and any other eligible children - £237.08 per child
• If you have a disabled or severely disabled child - £128.89 or £402.41
• For childcare costs - up to 85 per cent of your costs (up to £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for 2 or more children)

ABC Note: The ABC is predicting a crisis of epic proportions when Universal Credit is cut by £20 a week in October.