Universal Credit, the innovative, digital based, more agile service, is one of the major success stories during this pandemic.
When Covid19 hit this country, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was faced with an unprecedented demand for Universal Credit.
The Government’s approach throughout this pandemic has been to support all families – particularly those vulnerable and on low incomes – through a range of measures worth over £280 billion, including the Furlough Scheme, £1 billion in catch up funding for schools and vulnerable children, a £500 million Hardship Fund, £170 million to support food poverty this winter, and over £6 billion in increases to welfare.
The evidence shows that our measures so far throughout the pandemic have supported the poorest working households the most, been worth around a fifth of incomes for working households (on average) and reduced the scale of losses for working households by up to two-thirds.
At full scale, Universal Credit will serve around 7 million people and pay out £67 billion per year – the biggest change to working age benefits since the Second World War. It replaces a complicated system of 6 working age benefits and tax credits with one single monthly payment.
The Universal Credit system has proved that it is agile and gets services out in front of people who need financial support fast.
By 2020, up to around 2 million people were using the service with a 4% month on month growth. Covid19 caused a spike in the system with unprecedented claims and within a few months of the pandemic hitting us, there were 5 million active claims.
The system withstood the increase and DWP Ministers and staff were quite simply, amazing. They worked so hard to ensure that people in need received financial support. At the peak, the staff took 2.2 million calls in one single day alone.
With Covid19 continuing and this country under severe economic pressure, Universal Credit will be critical for at least the next few months. The temporary and emergency £1,000 a year uplift in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits runs until the end of March – and is just one of a range of measures the Government has put in place to help jobs and livelihoods. There will be a Budget on 3 March where the Government will set out the next steps in its response to the pandemic, and I would urge the Chancellor to look at ways in which we can extend this uplift throughout the rest of this pandemic.
Universal Credit is something to celebrate at this time of national and international health and economic crises. We are lucky that, as a country, we had a strong enough economy to start with, to be able to support individuals and businesses throughout.
This ‘luck’ is because we had 10 years of Conservative economic policies, putting us into a very robust economic position. Can you imagine if the pandemic had occurred in 2010, immediately after the economic and social disaster of the last Labour Government…what was the letter left by Labour’s ex-Treasury Secretary? Oh yes …something along the lines of ‘no money left’.
Honourable Member’s opposite are perfectly well-aware but cannot admit that Universal Credit has successfully supported millions of people in need during this pandemic. Instead, they must find fault, or even call for it to be scrapped. Finding fault and not being able to accept success shows a lack of confidence in themselves as a Party and their ability to govern. It shows their lack of substance, creating a void full of hopelessness, discontent and pessimism.
Negativity is the single greatest obstruction to success.
The Bench opposite knows that their motion today is ineffective – it will make no difference to the people they purport to help - and if they really cared about poverty, rather than focus on political game-playing, they could follow the lead of the Conservative Party and focus on how we combat poverty and tackle the underlying problems that cause poverty; strengthening families, improving housing and education, providing opportunity and rewarding hard work.
Levelling up.
Our £30 billion Plan for Jobs focusses on creating, supporting and protecting as many jobs as possible – including through the Kickstart and Restart scheme, support for Apprenticeships, Traineeships, the Lifetime Skills Guarantee and doubling the number of Work Coaches to give people intensive tailored support to get back on their feet and into work.
Together across our four nations, our United Kingdom is overcoming the challenge of this pandemic. Our UK Government, led by our Prime Minister, is committed to investing our hard-earned cash, tax-payer’s cash, in creating new jobs in exciting new sectors as an independent, sovereign and globally focused nation. This will take people out of Universal Credit and working age benefits, giving them opportunities and hope, and ensuring extra help and a real safety net for those who cannot work because of illness or disability.