01.11.19
£10m fund to support people claiming Universal Credit
Partner organisations and charities from April 2020 will be able to help vulnerable people claim Universal Credit.
Secretary of State Therese Coffey has today (Nov 1st) announced a £10m Universal Transition Fund to aim helping vulnerable people, including disabled people, care leavers and those with mental health issues claim Universal Credit as a route into work. It will support innovative ideas for engaging with vulnerable people early, helping them to make timely claims to the new benefit.
The funding was allocated to the Department for Work and Pensions as part of the 2019 Spending Round process.
The Department for Work and Pensions is providing severe disability payments to protect the most vulnerable. Severely disabled claimants can receive SDP to support their living costs as they move onto Universal Credit. This is worth a maximum of £405 a month to claimants, worth £600 million over the next 6 years for 45, 000 claimants.
Numbers show that fifth of people delayed making a claim for Universal Credit, mainly because they didn’t know how to make a claim or because they thought they would find a job quickly.
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Dr Therese Coffey MP said: I am delighted to announce a £10 million challenge fund to support the most vulnerable in society with their Universal Credit claims.
Universal Credit is now supporting more than 2.5 million people. Around 1 million disabled households are better off under Universal Credit and we will continue to deliver targeted support through this fund and other measures.