A major disability campaign group is one of the organisers of a day of action fighting plans to scrap the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.
Disabled People Against Cuts has teamed up with the Homes For All campaign and People Before Profit to set up the protest, which takes place this Saturday, February 6th.
DPAC, a national organisation which has a Sheffield branch, said: “The Government increased Universal Credit by £20 per week at the start of the pandemic, when nearly two million more claimants came onto the benefit, exposing the social security system to greater scrutiny. Now, while the pandemic is still raging, they are planning to take the £20 uplift away. This seems particularly cruel and unnecessary.”
“Many claimants never got the £20 uplift in the first place. It was only applied to Universal Credit so those still on legacy benefits and not yet moved over to Universal Credit were missed out. Many of these are disabled and their living costs have been significantly higher as a result of the pandemic and needing to shield. Out of work benefits in the UK are well below the amount needed for a decent standard of living. All benefits need to be significantly increased, not cut.
“We understand that many people are still unable to leave their homes and we are NOT asking anyone to put their lives at risk or to break social distancing guidelines. We are asking people to do just whatever you can to build support for this issue and to let claimants know there is a fightback they can get involved with.”
The All Parliamentary Group On Poverty recently called for for the Universal Credit (UC) top up, worth £1,050 a year, to be retained and extended beyond April 2021 and for the benefit cap to be suspended.
The organisers of Saturday’s event have suggested ideas for you to get involved in the day of protest ( including writing to your MP ) which you can read about here
Meanwhile Disability Rights UK has advised Disability Premium claimants to ‘seek robust advice’, as changes in Universal Credit take place. A two-year moratorium on moving people who claim Severe Disability Premiums (SDPs) to Universal Credit (UC) has come to an end.
This means that people on the old-style benefits can now choose to move to the new UC if they so choose, but some will be moved over due to a “change of circumstances”, such as moving house or changing relationship status. The changes affect half a million people.
Despite Ministers repeatedly saying most people will end up better off under the changes, charities are aware of a number of people who will end up worse off as a result of shifting over to UC. Read the full report here.
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