£20 uplift to Universal Credit comes to an end

By Q Radio News

A £20 uplift to Universal Credit payments ends today. 

The uplift was introduced as a temporary measure to help people through the covid-19 pandemic. 

The removal of the extra money is expected to affect more than 100,000 families in Northern Ireland. 

In protest and to mark the impact this cut will have on local families, the lights on Belfast City Hall will be turned off from 8pm to 10pm tonight. 

Members of the Women’s Regional Consortium and Councillors from Belfast City Council will be at the front of the City Hall when the lights go out. 

The consortium says this is a "powerful symbol" of how the cut will affect low income families, potentially turning their lights out, turning their heat off and taking food off their tables.

One woman told the Women’s Regional Consortium about the impact of the cut to Universal Credit on her life:

“This extra amount helps me to maintain a certain level but there are no luxuries, it’s just the basics!  It’s the cost of living, everything is going up, the cost of food, etc.  So really it’s not an extra if the cost of everything else has gone up.  It just helps me to maintain a basic level of life.  If they took it away, I’d really struggle.”

The cut comes at a time when the cost of living is rising with increases in the cost of food and recent announcements about significant rises in the cost of gas and electricity. 

However, at the same time, families on Universal Credit will lose £86 from their monthly incomes. 

Siobhán Harding from the Women's Regional Consortium says she's concerned many will have to choose between eating and heating. 

According to the consortium, research has showsNorthern Ireland will feel the cut to Universal Credit the hardest, hitting 36% of local non-pensioner households, the highest of all the UK regions. 

It will also damage economic recovery resulting in a loss of over £139million/year from the Northern Ireland economy taking money out of local economies where it is spent and not saved.