Extra 1.3m workers on universal credit since pandemic began, research finds
Unions have urged the government to do more to help low-paid workers weather the cost of living crisis, after research found the number claiming universal credit has more than doubled since the start of the pandemic to at least 2.3 million.
The TUC said the 1.3 million increase in working universal credit claimants had been caused by households being pushed into financial hardship during Covid and called for a substantial rise in the payments and a higher minimum wage to head off a “perfect storm” of costs coming in spring.
From 1 April, energy bills will rise on average by £700 to £2,000 a year and a few days later the chancellor’s 1.25% national insurance surcharge will start hitting wage packets. Unfixed mortgages will start rising in March, while food, rent and other prices have all been increasing at their fastest rate for 30 years.
While the Treasury announced some support on Thursday to mitigate the squeeze, the TUC said that without further intervention, millions more working people would find themselves pushed below the breadline.
Low-paid workers, mostly those with young children, are able to top up their incomes by applying for universal credit, and about 40% of all claimants are in work.
The TUC said 12% of workers told researchers that they expected to struggle to afford the basics in the next six months, while 22% said they would find it hard to afford “more than the basics”. The analysis found that a fifth of workers have Christmas debts to pay off this year, a number that rises to more than a quarter for workers with children of school age.
Frances O’Grady, the TUC’s general secretary, said ministers need to urgently raise universal credit payments to 80% of the living wage – which is set to rise to £9.50 in
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