DWP urged to introduce new £25 weekly uplift for people on Universal Credit and legacy benefits

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Members of the SNP and Scottish Liberal Democrats have called on the UK Government to reintroduce the weekly uplift that was given to Universal Credit claimants during the coronavirus pandemic to help ease the financial pressure caused by lockdowns.

They also called for it to be increased to £25 per week and extended to all claimants on legacy benefits.The proposed uplift was put directly to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the House of Commons on Monday by Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain and SNP MP David Linden, with a couple of interventions from other SNP members showing support for the reintroduction of the weekly payment.Ms Chamberlain told MPs: “In the long term, to end the need for additional cost of living payments we need economic growth, we need more people able to work and we need a healthier society.

Poverty is the enemy of all those things.”The North East Fife MP continued: “Poverty breeds worse health outcomes, it makes people cold and hungry and it drives away hope and drive.

That is nobody’s fault except those who choose to look away and do nothing, and that is why we need the Government to review reinstating the uplift to Universal Credit and extending it to legacy benefits. “It is why Carer’s Allowance needs reforming, and it is why we need all the cost of living payments at once, now, as a circuit breaker.” Earlier, Ms Chamberlain had proposed that all cost of living payments, worth up to £1,350, were made to all eligible recipients before April 1.