The Government must outline the extent to which benefits should
be supporting people with daily living costs and bring forward a
plan so that benefit levels meet the new benchmark, a cross-party
committee of MPs says today.
The Work and Pensions Committee’s report on
benefit levels in the UK also calls on the Government to
introduce a new ‘uprating guarantee,’ to uprate working-age
benefits and the Local Housing Allowance rate each year, to end
the uncertainty faced by people claiming benefits. The
Committee also recommends that the Household Support Fund, which
enables local authorities to help those in need, be made a
permanent part of the social security system.
The recommendations follow a year-long inquiry launched after the
Committee’s
recommendationin its 2022 cost of living report
to review the adequacy of benefits levels. The 2022 report
highlighted evidence that a root cause of the financial
challenges faced by households “lay in the fundamental inadequacy
of social security support”, but the Government insisted that
there was no objective way of deciding what benefits should be.
In response to that challenge, today’s report says that the
Government should develop a framework of principles and set a
benchmark and objectives linked to living costs to measure the
effectiveness of benefit levels. If DWP finds that it is not
meeting these objectives, it should set out how it intends to
reach them, for example by increasing benefit levels when the
financial situation allows.
The report also says that the Government should make an ‘uprating
guarantee’ to increase benefits annually, based on, for example,
prices. It would be required to set out its reasoning to
Parliament if it decided to deviate from this guarantee.
On the Household Support Fund, the Committee welcomes the
extension announced in Spring Budget 2024. The report says that
it should become a permanent feature of the social security
system to improve the ability of local authorities to plan their
provision of discretionary support to households.
Rt Hon Sir MP, Chair of the Work and
Pensions Committee, said:
“It is right that our benefit system incentivises work, but it
should also provide an effective safety net for jobseekers,
people on low incomes, carers and those with disabilities.
We have heard plenty of evidence that benefits are
currently at a level that leaves many unable to afford daily
essentials or meet the unavoidable extra costs associated with
having a health impairment or disability.
“The Government has previously said that it is not possible to
come up with an objective way of deciding what benefits should
be. Our recommendations are a response to that challenge,
and the ball is now back in the Government’s court.
“On top of acknowledging and acting on a new benchmark and
objectives linked to living costs, Ministers should commit to
consistent uprating of benefits each year. It is time to
end the annual ‘will they or won’t they’ speculation and all the
worry that brings to those who rely on the social security system
for financial support.
“The Household Support Fund has provided a vital layer of
additional support for households during the cost of living
crisis. The Government should build on the extension
announced in the Budget, and make it a permanent part of the
social security system to allow councils to continue to reach
those in their local areas who most need help.”
A full list of the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations is
available on P74 of the report.
