Universal credit extension will hit Rotherham’s poorest, MP tells government

SARAH Champion wrote to work and pensions secretary Damien Green to condemn the forthcoming “devastating” extension of universal credit.
Sarah ChampionSarah Champion
Sarah Champion

The Rotherham MP quoted Child Poverty Action Group figures saying single parent families would be £2,380 a year worse off, while families with three children would lose £2,540.

Universal credit, which combines several means-tested benefits and tax credits, is set to be extended to all existing claimants from next April.

Ms Champion said: “The Government claims to be on the side of those ‘just getting by’ but these devastating cuts paint a very different picture.

“It is of course important that those that can work should work. But universal credit seriously weakens the incentives to do so, leaving many low paid, working families’ worse off.

“If the Government is serious about making work pay, they should go back to the drawing board and reverse these damaging cuts.”