Universal Credit claims now six times higher than pre-crisis levels

Six times more people than normal are now claiming Universal Credit (UC), work and pensions minister Therese Coffey has said.

Between 16 March, a week before lockdown began, and the end of April, the government received 1.8 million welfare claims via UC, she said today. Overall, the number of people claiming UC was six times higher than the pre-crisis period, and in some weeks it was up to 10 times higher than the norm, she said.

For more on Universal Credit, read New Statesman’s Britain editor Anoosh Chakelian’s piece on the system’s worst flaws.