Report to the Centre for Social Justice
Authors: Deven Ghelani, Alex Clegg
Published: 20 May 2022
The Centre for Social Justice asked Policy in Practice to calculate the cost of three policy options to increasing Universal Credit, in order to protect low income households from high and rising inflation.
- Option 1: Restoring the £20 weekly uplift to Universal Credit
- Option 2: Increasing elements of Universal Credit, as though they had been uprated by 10% in April 2022
- Option 3: Restoring work allowances to 2015 levels to help all Universal Credit households in work
Event: Migrating to Universal Credit during the cost of living crisis
25 May, 10.30 – 11.45am
On Monday 9 May the Department for Work and Pensions resumed the managed migration of people who claim legacy benefits to Universal Credit. It is due to be completed by December 2024.
The picture is not black and white.
Nearly a million people on legacy benefits are expected to be worse off when migrating to UC, 600,000 of whom will be offered transitional protection. Conversely, DWP estimates that nearly two million working households will be £1,000 a year better off on UC. Moving to Universal Credit is a complex subject and local authorities and advice organisations are preparing to help people who are uncertain about how it may affect them.
Join this webinar to learn:
– Who should move to Universal Credit now via natural or voluntary migration
– What transitional protection is and who should wait for it to be offered
– What other factors people and the organisations who support them should consider when making the move to Universal Credit
