Families set to be hit by expiry of government’s coronavirus support, Labour warns
Series of deadlines to batter families across the country
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Struggling families are set to face a series of hits to their finances in the coming weeks and months thanks to the expiry of government coronavirus support, Labour has warned.
The government’s eviction ban will come to an end on 11 January, with 29 January also the deadline for self-employed people to access grants. This will be followed by the deadline for mortgage holiday applications on 31 January.
Meanwhile universal credit claimants will lose the temporary boost to their social security payments on 6 April. The government’s furlough scheme is scheduled to come to an end on 30 April.
The government has repeatedly extended many of these deadlines, an approach Labour has characterised as “chaotic” and “last-minute”.
But there is pressure from some Tory MPs on the chancellor Rishi Sunak to cut spending and let the grants expire.
Though the opposition has stopped short of calling for all the deadlines to be extended or relaxed, Labour wants the temporary £20-a-week pandemic boost to universal credit kept in place.
They point out that families in the UK entered the pandemic with one of the lowest rates of savings in the developed world, making it harder to weather the crisis.
“The irresponsible decisions taken by the Conservatives over the last decade left many UK households without a penny in the bank going into this crisis,” said Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s shadow chancellor.
“When Covid hit, they had nothing to fall back on – and now some are teetering on the brink of financial ruin as several Covid support cliff-edges loom.
“The Chancellor’s chaotic, last-minute approach to this crisis plunged the UK into the worst downturn of any major economy, but it seems he hasn’t learned any lessons.
“Families up and down the country will continue to suffer if he doesn’t fix Britain’s broken safety net and tackle the root causes of income insecurity across our country.”
A study by left-leaning think tank, the Fabian Society, found that more than three million people would be plunged into poverty if Mr Sunak goes ahead with his planned cuts to universal credit. The one-year increase unveiled by the chancellor cost £6bn in current spending.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments