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A PETITION will be handed into Parliament tomorrow calling on the government to urgently tackle the problems of universal credit (UC).
Yesterday, the Trussell Trust said its new figures show that UC is driving a rise in referrals to its foodbank network and the number of emergency supplies handed out.
It provided 658,048 supplies between April and September, a 13 per cent increase on the same period a year ago, the charity said.
If the five-week minimum wait for a first UC payment is not reduced, the only way to prevent more people being forced to rely on foodbanks is to pause all new claims for the benefit, the trust’s chief executive Emma Revie said.
Shadow work & pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood said: “Nobody should be left waiting weeks for a payment and the government must stop the botched roll-out of universal credit now.”
The Commons work & pensions committee has called for an urgent reassessment of the government’s benefit sanctions regime, warning in a report published today that the current system appears to be “pointlessly cruel” to some claimants.
