Oral Answers to Questions

Tonia Antoniazzi Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

8. What assessment she has made of the impact of removing the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on household budgets.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

14. What assessment she has made of the impact of removing the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on household budgets.

[Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab)]

21. What assessment she has made of the impact of removing the £20 uplift to the standard allowance of universal credit on household budgets.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Coffey]

I respect that people undertake care, and I am conscious that they often choose to do it in partnership with their local authority. We want to make sure that people take advantage of the increase in the national minimum wage, which will be coming in from April 2022, and of the changes that make it worthwhile for people to work extra hours and progress in work, which will be a big focus of what we do in 2022 and beyond.

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

Although the recent changes to the taper rate and the work allowance are welcome, they simply do not go far enough. The Resolution Foundation’s analysis found that huge increases in the cost of living will wipe out any gains. Even with these changes, three quarters of families on UC will still be worse off than if they had kept the £20 uplift to the standard allowance. Does the Secretary of State now see that the countless organisations, and even former Tory Work and Pensions Ministers, who argued for the uplift to be made permanent were actually right?

[Dr Coffey]

I am conscious of what the hon. Lady says, and I am sure she welcomes the £25 million of the £0.5 billion spent on the household support fund over this winter. I am also conscious that we want to make sure people will be better off working than not—that was the big change and the big announcement in the Budget. I am conscious that, right now, right across the country there are more people seeking work than ever before. More people are on payrolls than ever before and companies across the country are looking for workers, so we will be doing our best to help people who have not been working to get into work. We will also be responding to in-work progression early in the new year.