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COVID benefit cut leaves half a million disabled people £1,000 a year worse off

Sunak’s Budget sop to ‘reward work’ for worst hit by Universal Credit changes still hammers UK households unable to take jobs due to ill-health

By Chaminda Jayanetti
COVID benefit cut leaves half a million disabled people £1,000 a year worse off
Disabled People Against Cuts protesting in London | Peter Marshall / Alamy Stock Photo. All rights reserved
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More than 600,000 disabled people across the UK have lost more than £1,000 a year under this month’s Universal Credit cut, with at least half a million living in households where no one is considered able to work, openDemocracy can reveal.

In this week’s autumn Budget, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a rise in the minimum wage and a cut in the rate at which Universal Credit is withdrawn for those in paid work.

The measures were designed to soften the impact of the withdrawal of the £20 weekly pandemic ‘uplift’ to Universal Credit – but they do nothing for most Universal Credit claimants, who are not in paid work, including many who are unable to work.

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