Thousands of Wigan households are still on legacy benefits

Debt charity StepChange said many claimants are being pushed into hardship by having to wait more than a month for their first Universal Credit payment after migrating from older benefits.

And measures recently announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help with the cost-of-living crisis have been criticised for not going far enough to help low-income households.

In the Wigan constituency, 9,163 households were claiming Universal Credit in February after being transferred from legacy benefits, while an estimated 4,378 remained on the old system, according to figures from the House of Commons library.

This means around 32 per cent of households are still on older benefits, such as Employment Allowance, Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance, which are set to be fully replaced in two years’ time.

In Makerfield, 6,664 households were on Universal Credit in February, while around 3,544 remained on the old system, meaning around 35 per cent of households are still on older benefits, .

And in Leigh 8,587 homes were claiming UC, with 4,188 (33 per cent) still on the old system.

StepChange said moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit – which rolls six means-tested benefit payments into one monthly deposit – is challenging because new claimants must wait five weeks for their first instalment, meaning some people need a budgeting advance, while others can be pushed into debt.

Ed McDonagh, senior public policy advocate, said: "Overall, Universal Credit can work to support people, but it also has features that can cause real hardship and can actually worsen people’s debt as they try to work around them."

In his spring statement, Mr Sunak did not respond to calls to increase Universal Credit and legacy benefits in line with inflation – which means many will see a real-terms benefit cut from April – instead announcing that £12m would be provided to reduce tax credit error and fraud and “in turn support a smooth transition to Universal Credit”.

Households still on legacy benefits also missed out on the £20 uplift to Universal Credit introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.

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