Gordon Brown has called on Rishi Sunak’s to halt “cruel” debt deductions from Britons’ benefit payments – saying it would “lifesaver” for struggling families this Christmas.
The former Labour PM said around two million Universal Credit claimants were suffering from deductions taken by Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to repay debt – averaging around £60 a month.
Mr Brown said the DWP was acting as “ruthless debt-collector” at a time when many families were in dire trouble from soaring inflation during the cost of living crisis.
He has written to work and pensions secretary Mel Stride to urged for deductions to be halted until the energy crisis is resolved and Britons can get on top of bills.
“At a time when so many are struggling to survive, unable to pay for heating or feed their kids, the government is deducting huge amounts from their universal credit … This isn’t just austerity, it’s cruelty,” Mr Brown tweeted.
He said: “This ruthless debt-collector government must suspend universal credit deductions immediately for the duration of the energy crisis.”
“They did it during Covid, they can do it now. It would be a lifesaver for the millions now suffering under such vindictive policies,” Mr Brown added.
Up to 25 per cent of universal credit standard allowance can be taken by the DWP each month to service debt – whether for paying back advances designed to cover for an initial claim, or to reclaim tax credit that was overpaid.
Around 2.1 million are losing an average around £60 a month, said Mr Brown – who warned that for around one million households it meant having more than 20 per cent of their universal credit taken back.
The former prime minister said nappies and toilet roll were becoming “luxury goods” for some families forced to turn to food banks and warm banks to survive.
“Welfare is being privatised, with the government passing the buck to charities who can’t cope,” Mr Brown tweeted. “Such cruelty has to stop.”
This ruthless debt-collector government must suspend universal credit deductions immediately for the duration of the energy crisis
In his letter to Mr Stride, Mr Brown asked him to consider changing policy “before Christmas to prevent untold hardship when already poor families are being forced into extreme and abject poverty and in some cases destitution”.
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “Deductions help protect claimants from enforcement actions such as eviction, ensure priority debts such as child maintenance are still addressed and help to recover taxpayers’ money.”
“We have reduced the standard cap on deductions twice in recent years, to 25 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, doubled the period over which new claims can be repaid and stopped utility companies from being able to increase payments automatically,” they added.
It come as the latest research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reveal the stark impact the cost of living crisis, as 4.7 million fall behind on their bills.
The JRF study released on Wednesday also showed that some 7.2 million people are now struggling to access basics. Three-quarters of those in the bottom 20 per cent of incomes are going without food or other essentials like clothing or toiletries.
