According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, nearly 6,000 people in Bath living on universal credit “will be harmed” by reduced benefits.
The government plans to end the weekly £ 20 increase made during the coronavirus pandemic, a move that could hit carers, shelf stackers and hairdressers hardest.
New data from the charity has shown that around 15% of the poorest families in Bath will suffer greatly from the reduction.
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The foundation estimates that the reduction alone could push 500,000 people across the country, nearly half of them children, into poverty.
He predicted that 5,900 people in the region would be “affected” by the drop in support, with 27% of families with children being severely affected.
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Wera Hobhouse, Liberal Democrat MP for Bath, said: ‘Bath has had to weather this pandemic while facing this heartless Conservative government.
“This cut will cause untold damage to so many of our local families.
“There is no doubt that the government must reverse this cruel cut and support those who risk falling through the breaches.
“We demand that the increase in universal credit be made permanent.”
The MP added that the country was still “in the middle” of a pandemic and that “now is not the time” to reduce support.
“We cannot make a full recovery if millions of families are struggling to make ends meet.
“The Prime Minister’s claim that he wants people to live on their own ‘efforts’ rather than their ‘well-being’ shows how out of touch he really is.
“With 39 percent of families on universal credit already working and many of them have young families, this reduction will leave many parents and their children behind,” she said.
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Source: www.somersetlive.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-09-06 14:49:39
