FAMILIES managing without the foodbank may have to turn to us again when the £20 uplift in Universal Credit (UC) is scrapped, said the manager of Wokingham Foodbank.
Once the additional funds are removed later this year, Annette Medhurst has concerns people will struggle to make ends meet without the support of charities.
In last week’s budget, the chancellor extended the £20 increase to the autumn, when it will be removed.
“While the extension to the UC uplift is great it feels like a bit of a sticking plaster,” Ms Medhurst said.
“Lots of people will continue to struggle afterwards — Wokingham is an expensive place to live.”
She said a large portion of residents visiting the foodbank are key workers.
“We have care home staff, school staff, and people working in supermarkets come to us,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.
“There is this expectation that once we’ve come out of covid, everything will be rosy — but removing that support will push more people to the foodbank.”
It comes as Action for Children called for help and certainty for families, as Universal Credit entitlements are set to be cut at the same time as the furlough scheme ends in September
“There’s no faster way to push more children into poverty than by snatching £20 a week out of the pockets of our country’s poorest families,” said Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns.
“Many of them are in work and doing their best to hold their heads above water after a traumatic year that’s seen hours cut and wage packets slashed.”
The group is calling for the Government to make the £20 uplift permanent.
Cllr Andy Croy, leader of Wokingham Labour, said the cut, which was initially planned for April, will “suck cash out of local economies”.
He told Wokingham.Today: “People who receive Universal Credit are spending this money in their local communities and in their local shops.
“[It is] economically illiterate, whether it is done now or in September.”
He said between November 2019 and November 2020, the number of people receiving Universal Credit tripled.
He shared Ms Medhurt’s concern that scrapping the additional funding would push more families to the foodbank, and said it was “no way to treat people”.
He added: “We have a Conservative chancellor who last year was happy to subsidise restaurant meals for the wealthy via Eat Out to Help Out but will be making it harder for families to put food on the table later this year.
“This cut, whenever it happens, reeks of incompetence and cruelty. The Conservatives have not changed.”
Cllr Lindsay Ferris, leader of Wokingham Liberal Democrats, said the group believes the £20 uplift should have been made permanent.
“It has been clear that throughout the pandemic an increasing number of families have needed increased support,” he said.
“In the end it will cost the country less to keep families afloat, than to let a number of them flounder, with all the problems, such as debt and potential homelessness.
“Picking up the pieces of such families will cost so much more than the £20 per week.
“It therefore makes sense all around to continue with this support.”
David Edmonds, chairman of the Wokingham Conservative Association, said the national party has a duty to review support on a regular basis, “to make certain the help we are providing is reaching the members of our community who most need it.”
He added that the Government has provided the community with “unprecedented levels of financial support” and the Conservative Party is “completely committed to supporting the most economically vulnerable members of society”.
