Families 'won't live with dignity' if 'huge' social security cut goes ahead, says Yorkshire charity

The Universal Credit payment is claimed by more than 5.5 million households across the UK, and it was increased by £20 a week in April 2020, to help families struggling financially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

New analysis by the JRF estimates that 600,000 families across Yorkshire and the Humber - which make up 25 per cent of working families in the region - will be affected by the cuts.

The charity, which researches poverty, estimated that it as an income loss equivalent to £1,040 a year.

The organisation has said a minimum first step is for the Government to have a “rethink” to help end poverty across the region, and to improve the futures for families, who - with a long summer ahead - are struggling to afford food and basic utilities, such as gas and electricity let alone new school uniforms and school books ahead of the new academic term in September.

Lucy Bannister, the policy campaigns manager for the JRF, said: “We would be at risk of repeating the mistakes of the past by cutting the incomes of those already with the least.

“That investment in the system was very much needed to allow families to live with dignity.

“This summer and going into the autumn will be particularly challenging because of the last couple of years we have had.”

Ms Bannister added: “There are still a high proportion of families who are not aware that this cut is coming.

“It will be very difficult for them to factor it into their budget when we know they are already struggling.”

Previously the payment had been due to end on 31 March this year, but after the Government came under pressure to announce an extension, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire, extended the £20 a week for a further six months in his March Budget.

A fifth of people in Yorkshire live in poverty, and what is particularly concerning, the JRF said, is that most of the rise was among children - with nearly a third of all youngsters in the region, a total of 350,000, now living in poverty.

Nationally in the past two years ahead of the pandemic, the charity saw destition the most severe form of poverty with a rise of 50 per cent.

The organisation warned that this figure will grow disportionately for those most vulnerable across the region with a detrimental effect on their wellbeing.

Ms Bannister said: “We do need some significant, urgent investment into our social security system. A huge cut seems really at odds with the Government’s levelling up agenda.”

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