Brent councillor calls on government to 'put families first' and save universal credit payments

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, cabinet member for welfare reform at Brent Council, said the government must "put families first".

Figures show 32,320 households claim the benefit across Brent - and across London the figure is 750,000 - according to Labour.

An increase of £20 a week has been given to each claimant since last March, to mitigate effects of the pandemic.

The government plans, at the end of March, to end this uplift which ministers say would cost "somewhere in the region of £6bn" each year.

A vote was held on a non-binding Labour motion in the House of Commons on Monday (January 18) to scrap the cut. It passed by 278 votes to zero, with six Conservative MPs defying party orders to abstain.

The cut is equivalent to the cost of an average family’s annual electricity, gas and internet bills combined, the Labour Party said.

Cllr Southwood said: "There are more than 30,000 households in Brent that have been receiving an increase to universal credit since last year.

"The government should be under no illusion that for families in Brent, every penny of the £20 a week uplift is a life-line when living from pay-cheque to pay-cheque.

"The government must put families first and act decisively to cancel the cut to universal credit recipients.

"If we can help, we will - I’d therefore encourage any Brent resident under financial pressure to make contact with Brent Council.”

Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: “The government must put families first during this crisis and give them the support and security they need.”

A government spokesperson said: “The chancellor announced a temporary £20 increase to universal credit in March 2020, and this runs until the end of March 2021.

"As we have done throughout this crisis, we will continue to assess how best to support the economy, which is why we will look at the economic and health context at the time."