WHILE ministers have hailed Universal Credit (UC) as a success for not buckling under the unprecedented number of claimants made redundant, to make this work the DWP had to introduce a series of measures stripping UC of some of its core components such as conditionality and injecting more flexibility and generosity into the system.

This implicitly acknowledged that benefits are too low, too complex to claim and are not received in a timely manner: the UC £20 uplift,  suspending the Minimum Income Floor, increasing the Local Housing Allowance Rate, expediting payments etc.

This uplift has been described as a lifeline by claimants, DPOs, charities and other organisations, but while the government is now considering withdrawing it, it has also been shown to be widely insufficient to cover the living costs borne by claimants.

According to the Resolution Foundation, of the more than three million additional claimants since last March, 31 per cent had either taken out new loans or seen their existing debts increase and 61 per cent cent expected to struggle or to fall behind on their bills in the coming three months — around double the national average.