Universal Credit given £1bn boost to help “ease the transition”
Universal Credit will receive a £1bn boost over the next five years to “ease the transition” following the rollout of the new benefit system.
The Chancellor Philip Hammond also increased the Work Allowance – the amount claimants can earn before the Universal Credit (UC) awards begins to be withdrawn – by £1,000 from April 2019.
He said it meant 2.4m households would keep an extra £630 of income each year.
Earlier this week the Public Accounts Committee said the introduction of UC was causing “unacceptable hardship and difficulties for many of the claimants it was designed to help.”
Hammond responded to the furore around the system's rollout in his Budget speech and UC was “here to stay” before announced the £1bn package of measures.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government was “harsh on the weak and feeble with the strong.”
He said: “Far from tackling the burning injustices, they have actually made them worse.”