Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Ask Me Anything

Ask a Joseph Rowntree Foundation social security expert anything about universal credit changes

Iain Porter is policy and partnership manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and will be on hand to answer your questions live

Friday 01 October 2021 11:11 BST
Comments
Ending the higher payment will cause hardship, campaigners say (Joe Giddens/PA)
Ending the higher payment will cause hardship, campaigners say (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

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.

A staggering 6 million people across the UK are set to lose £20 a week from their welfare support from Wednesday 6 October, as the government cuts the amount people on universal credit are receiving.

The £86 monthly rise in the benefit was brought in during the Covid-19 pandemic to help struggling families, but ministers are preparing to remove it at the end of this week.

The government has come under pressure, including from Conservatives on its own back benches, to keep the top-up payment after being warned that soaring energy prices and increased living costs mean it is the “worst possible time” to pull the uplift.

But ministers have explained the cut in support by saying it was always intended to be a “temporary measure” and reduction is set to go ahead.

A government spokesperson told The Independent the uplift was “designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so”.

The concern around the move is now only increasing and removing the uplift will be a “catastrophic cut” which may cause people’s mental health problems to spiral, a charity Mental Health UK has warned.

Its online mental health and money advice service have seen almost double the number of visits in the course of a year. There were 30,760 visits in August 2020 which rose to 60,214 in August 2021.

As we approach the date of change there are plenty of questions circulating about what those who are affected should do and what it means for the wider picture as we as a society attempt to emerge back into some form of normality as the pandemic restrictions ease.

To answer your questions we have got social security expert Iain Porter on hand to explain some of the details about the planned changes and how they’ll affect people across the country, although he won’t be able to provide personal advice.

Iain is the policy and partnership manager at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. As part of his role he leads the charity’s policy work on Universal Credit with a focus on how to enable more people to move out of poverty through a better system of social security.

Iain previously worked on UK poverty policy and advocacy for a leading children’s charity. Before that he helped develop a comprehensive new social security policy platform for a major UK political party and was previously a senior manager with an international business advisory firm.

Iain will be taking your questions during a live ‘ask me anything’ session being held in the comments section of this page between 1-2pm on Friday, 1 October.

All you have to do is register to submit your question in the comments below. If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments box to leave your question. Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they will be hidden until Iain joins the conversation to answer them. Then join us live on this page at 1pm as he tackles as many questions as he can.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in