Six former work and pensions secretaries are urging the Government to make the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit permanent.
The proposal, backed by former Conservative leader and Universal Credit founder Sir Iain Duncan Smith and five Tory successors, comes after the measure was brought in during the coronavirus crisis to help struggling people.
The emergency policy is due to expire on October 1, having already been extended for six months, but Chancellor Rishi Sunak has faced repeated calls to extend it again or make it permanent.
Now Stephen Crabb, Damian Green, David Gauke, Esther McVey and Amber Rudd have joined their predecessor Sir Iain in penning a letter calling on Mr Sunak to stick with the investment after Covid restrictions ease.
Sir Iain warned that a failure to keep the uplift in place permanently would ‘damage living standards, health and opportunities’ for those that ‘need our support most as we emerge from the pandemic’.
Research from think-tank the Legatum Institute calculates that the weekly top-up has spared hundreds of thousands of people from destitution.
Although the number of people claiming benefits has risen from three to six million during Covid-19, the group estimates Universal Credit has saved a further 650,000 people from falling into poverty over this timeframe.
Now the Chancellor is being warned that a failure to act would be a missed opportunity to reduce UK poverty.
In a joint letter to Mr Sunak, the six former cabinet ministers said: ‘The UC uplift has rightly been allocated into the standard allowance of UC as many have not been able to work and it has been right to protect people whilst they cannot work.
‘But as the economy reopens, and the Government re-evaluates where it has been spending money, we ask that the current funding for individuals in the Universal Credit envelope be kept at the current level.’
Ministers told MPs in the Commons last week that there will be less need for the £20 weekly rise in Universal Credit payments once coronavirus restrictions have been scrapped, with the Government looking set to abolish social distancing restrictions by July 19.
But in a statement, Sir Iain said making it a permanent feature ‘should be at the heart of what makes us Conservatives’.
‘One of the greatest, but unremarked, successes of the Government’s response to Covid has been the benefit system,’ said the Tory veteran.
‘Universal Credit has held up well as a system for distributing money to those who need it, and the extra £20 added to has been essential in allowing people to live with dignity.
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‘Today all six former Conservative secretaries of state for work and pensions have written with one voice to urge the Chancellor to protect the extra money he has invested in Universal Credit.’
He added: ‘As such, this investment should be at the heart of what makes us Conservatives: delivering the policies needed to provide businesses and people across the UK with opportunities to prosper, whilst simultaneously providing support to those at risk of being left behind.
‘A failure to act would mean not grasping this opportunity to invest in a future with more work and less poverty and would damage living standards, health and opportunities for some of the families that need our support most as we emerge from the pandemic.’
Universal Credit has been widely criticised by opposition parties for a variety of reasons, including widespread delays in payments.
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MORE : Universal Credit £20-a-week uplift extended for six months
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