Disabled people in the South Hams can be more than £300 a month worse off under Universal Credit, Citizens Advice reveals
Citizens Advice South Hams has said that some disabled people in the area could be around £300 a month worse off under Universal Credit compared to the previous system.
The local charity has already helped 217 people with Universal Credit since it was rolled out on September 5th this year. Of these, 87 were disabled or had a long-term health conditions.
A report recently published by national Citizens Advice on – Universal Credit for Single Disabled People – revealed a significant drop in financial support for some single disabled people in a range of circumstances. This includes losses that can be more than £300 a month for working disabled people because of flaws in the design of the new benefit.
The Work Allowance is meant to improve work incentives for disabled people in Universal Credit. However, in practice it can only be accessed through the Work Capability Assessment, which gives benefits awards to people unable to work, rather than for disabled people who can work. This creates the situation where a worker must be assessed as not fit for work to receive targeted in-work support.
Citizens Advice is calling on the government to make changes to the design and the amount of financial support in Universal Credit to make sure disabled people aren’t penalised when they claim the new benefit.
Janie Moor, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice South Hams, said “We see the toll that Universal Credit can have on disabled people, They can be hundreds of pounds worse off than under the previous system – even when they do get the support meant for them. This money is desperately needed to cover key costs including essential bills and to stop them falling into serious financial difficulty.
The government must fix Universal Credit and increase the financial support disabled people can receive under the new benefit”
