According to provisional Department for Work and Pensions data from April 14, 8,326 people were receiving Universal Credit in Worcester
The number of people on Universal Credit in Worcester is at its highest level since August, new figures show.
According to provisional Department for Work and Pensions data from April 14, 8,326 people were receiving Universal Credit in Worcester.
Universal Credit has come under scrutiny in recent months, as the rising cost of basic household goods and energy has driven some to call for the rate to be increased, or for it to be made more widely accessible.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity tackling poverty in the UK, has criticised the Government for not increasing the benefit in line with inflation.
A senior policy advisor at the charity, Iain Porter, said: With inflation nearing double digits, benefits were only uprated by 3.1 per cent, their lowest in real terms in 40 years.
We already know of parents skipping meals so their children can eat, families using a single lightbulb to limit electricity use, and cutting back on showers to save water, Porter said.
On Monday, the chief secretary to treasury, Simon Clarke, ruled out reinstating the £20-a-week uplift to the benefit, which was temporarily introduced during the pandemic – a policy recently called for by other Conservative MPs.
And last week, work and pensions minister Therese Coffee announced a £600 million plan to clamp down on benefit fraud, including plans to give new powers to DWP officers which would allow them to make arrests and seize evidence.
Figures from February show that 44 per cent of households receiving Universal Credit in Worcester are families with children, including 2,103 single-parent households.
According to the latest figures, from March, 45 per cent of people on Universal Credit in Worcester were in employment.
Across Great Britain there were 5.6 million people receiving Universal Credit as of April 14, up 35,000 from January 13, but down from a peak of 6 million people in March 2021.