CYP Now - Impact of universal credit cuts one year on

It’s March 2020: the Covid-19 pandemic has hit the UK and the government has announced they are increasing Universal Credit, temporarily, by £20 per week. Some of the country’s most vulnerable people have been offered a lifeline, allowing them to stay afloat during the pandemic’s unprecedented times.

Billy Harding is policy and research manager at Centrepoint. Picture: Centrepoint

A year and a half later, people are still struggling to find reliable work and coronavirus continues to rage, but this lifeline – along with a host of others - is ripped away and claimants are left with £80-a-month less in their pockets; with thousands of young people losing a quarter of their income overnight.

This week marks a year since that £20 a week was cut from Universal Credit.

We are facing a crisis similar in scale to the pandemic but, instead of debating whether temporarily increasing Universal Credit would help, the talk in Westminster this week has been about whether it should face a real terms cut.

Register Now to Continue Reading

Thank you for visiting Children & Young People Now and making use of our archive of more than 60,000 expert features, topics hubs, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's Included