Southwark Labour is repeating its calls to maintain the £20
a week Universal Credit uplift permanently beyond March, as part of a growing
army of charities, local authorities and think tanks who are petitioning the
government to #CancelTheCut.
41,172 Southwark residents are currently in receipt of
Universal Credit, following the first lockdown where the amount of residents
claiming Universal Credit doubled, according to Citizens Advice Southwark.
The £20 a week uplift has been a vital safety net for those
on the lowest incomes in the borough and Southwark Labour is extremely
concerned that scrapping it would push residents further into poverty, at a
time where families are struggling more than ever.
Cllr Kieron Williams,
Leader of the Council, said: ‘It is disappointing that I wrote to the Prime
Minister over a month ago outlining the catastrophic effect abandoning the uplift
would have on Southwark residents, and I have not yet received a reply. The
financial worries of residents will not disappear overnight on the 31st March - we are still
very much in the peak of the pandemic, which is why cutting Universal Credit
now would be both cruel and illogical’.
Note to Editors
41,172 Southwark residents are currently in receipt of Universal Credit and will be therefore be effected by the scrapping of the £20 uplift, according to data from DWP: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/dataCatalogueExplorer.xhtml