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Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey today confirmed a £20-a-week Covid uplift to the value of Universal Credit will be scrapped from October despite a mounting Tory rebellion.
Ms Coffey said the Government will soon 'start communicating with the current claimants who receive the £20 to make them aware that that will be being phased out'.
The Cabinet minister said the extra cash is being removed because it was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure to help families struggling during the pandemic.
Ms Coffey insisted it had been a 'collective decision' across the Government to axe the extra funding as she refused to say whether she had asked the Treasury to find the money to keep the support in place for longer.
Her comments came after six former Tory work and pensions secretaries, including the architect of Universal Credit Sir Iain Duncan Smith, joined forces to demand the uplift be made permanent.
Six former Tory work and pensions secretaries, including the architect of Universal Credit Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have joined forces to demand the uplift be made permanent
The extra cash for benefit claimants was brought in as an emergency spending measure during the Covid crisis but it is due to expire on October 1, having already been extended for six months at the March Budget.
Ms Coffey was asked this morning during an appearance in front of the Work and Pensions Select Committee what the plan is for October.
She replied: 'Well, ahead of October we will start communicating with the current claimants who receive the £20 to make them aware
