Peter Lazenby
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THOUSANDS of vulnerable people face “real world misery” when they are transferred to universal credit (UC) payments from other benefits, an influential Commons committee has warned.
The government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has set a deadline of 2025 for 2.2 million households surviving on benefits such as housing benefit, working tax credit and income support, to be transferred to the UC system.
In a speech on welfare reform last week Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the transfer would give benefit recipients “more access to the world of work.”
But the public accounts committee (PAC) has warned that many face having their benefit stopped while not being transferred to universal credit – leaving them penniless.
PAC chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier said: “Our committee has scrutinised UC since its inception.
“We must not forget how massive a change it is to how benefits are delivered, impacting millions of people.”
She said that if the transfer to UC “fails even an apparently small proportion of people, it will lead to real-world misery for thousands.”
“The DWP must make sure that people are not cast into financial hardship due to a bureaucratic change, and that robust support is in place for those vulnerable claimants who need it most,” she said.
Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Warnings like the PAC’s are coming thick and fast as the DWP steam rolls on with managed migration, leaving vulnerable claimants in its wake – without the benefits they are entitled to and need.
“The department’s lack of concern that so many tax credit claimants haven’t moved to UC and have had their benefits cut off as a result is chilling.”
She called on the DWP to “slow the roll-out of UC right down” and avoid “large numbers of claimants falling over a cliff edge into debt.”
A DWP spokesperson said support and protection was available for those who need it.
“UC is having a sustained positive impact on the jobs market, with people on UC more likely to be in work within three, six and nine months of their claim,” the spokesperson said.
