DWP dismisses call to introduce new £20 weekly uplift on all legacy benefits and Universal Credit
16.06.2022 - 14:41
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has dismissed calls from Labour MP Steve McCabe to introduce a new £20 weekly uplift for all legacy benefit claimants and people on Universal Credit to help them through the cost of living crisis.
People on Universal Credit received a £20 weekly increase from the DWP from April 2020 to October 2021 to help them pay for additional costs incurred during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
However, the uplift was not extended to more than two million people on legacy benefits such as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA).
Four claimants brought a challenge to the High Court in November 2021 in relation to the UK Government's failure to apply a similar increase to legacy benefits, which was rejected by the judge in February this year.
An appeal against the ruling was also rejected, however an application to the Court of Appeal requesting permission to appeal the decision is still awaiting an outcome.
In two separate questions to DWP, Mr McCabe asked : “In the context of the increase in the cost of living, what recent assessment has been made of the potential merits of introducing a £20 a week uplift to all legacy benefits?”
And he asked Secretary of State at the DWP, Dr Therese Coffey: “If she will make it his policy to reinstate the £20 a week uplift in the Universal Credit standard allowance in the context of the increase in the cost of living.”
DWP Minister, David Rutley MP, replied to both queries saying there were “no plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a £20 uplift to all legacy benefits” and “there are no plans to reinstate the temporary increase to Universal Credit”.
In both
The website popstar.one is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.