Benefits shake-up ‘nothing gained’

Most families will gain nothing from the Government’s new Universal Credit, with ministers overstating the generosity of the benefit, a new report claimed today.

The TUC and Child Poverty Action Group said the new single benefit payment, now on trial in Ashton and later in Oldham before being introduced across the UK, was in danger of failing to deliver on its bjectives.

The two groups said that although Universal Credit will improve some aspects of the benefits system, its ability to lift families out of poverty and remove barriers to working will be “severely undermined” by the Government’s wider tax credit and benefit changes.

Nine out of 10 families will gain nothing overall from its introduction, with benefits offset by recent social security cuts.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Universal Credit is not bad in principle, but taken together with the other benefit changes introduced by the Government, it will make most people worse off.

“For all the claims of simplicity, in practice it is such a complex system that the Government has been forced to delay its roll–out.”