The government has confirmed that the £20 uplift to Universal credit (UC) is to end, slashing the income of millions of people .
But claimants will not receive a letter telling them that their income is going to be cut by £20 in 10 weeks’ time. Instead there will be a notice in their journal telling them what their payment will be in October.
Six million people will be affected by the cut and the Joseph Rowntree Trust has warned that it will plunge half a million more people into poverty, including 200,000 children.
Around half of all UC claimants only started claiming during the pandemic and so have never experienced rates plunging as low as they will in October.
Boris Johnson has argued that “the emphasis has got to be about getting people into work” in spite of the fact that 37% of those affected are in work and many others are unable to work.
Meanwhile, legacy benefits claimant who never received the £20 uplift will be waiting for the result of a judicial review due to be heard in September, when a judge will be asked to declare that the failure to treat legacy benefits claimants in the same way as UC claimants was unlawful.
