Secretary of State Therese Coffey has today (1 November 2019)announced a £10 million Universal Credit Transition Fund for outreach programmes to help vulnerable people make Universal Credit claims.
The fund will be available to partner organisations across the UK, including charities, from April 2020. It will aim to help 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.
Figures show that a fifth of claimants delayed making a claim for Universal Credit, largely 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.
The £10 million funding was allocated to DWP as part of the 2019 Spending Round process.
DWP is providing severe disability payments (SDP) 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.
Around 1 million disabled households will receive an average of around £100 more per month through Universal Credit.
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