Plea to the government to keep the £20 p/w universal credit uplift

“Without it, I fear for my kids’ wellbeing. I’m so tired of struggling and worrying about basic survival.” Dear Elizabeth As supporters of our Hunger Free Future campaign, we’re writing to ask for your help ahead of this year’s Budget to make sure the UK Government knows what’s needed to protect people from destitution. At the beginning of the pandemic, the UK Government introduced a £20 a week increase to Universal Credit, which has made it easier for tens of thousands of people to afford the essentials in recent months. But that increase is due to be removed in April, and we need your help to make sure that doesn’t happen. With other organisations, we have been calling for this change for the past few months as part of our ongoing work to drive positive policy change that will ultimately build a hunger free future – where we can all afford the basics. Ahead of the next Budget announcement in March, it’s vital that we stand together to insist that the UK Government continue to do the right thing and keep the lifeline the increase has offered. When we asked you to contact your representatives recently, thanks to you we were able to reach a record number of MPs – we know that your support now will have a real impact. Our new research reveals that nearly a quarter of a million parents claiming Universal Credit are worried they won’t be able to feed their children if the increase is removed as planned. It’s vital that we don’t let this happen.  Tweet the Chancellor of the Exchequer If the uplift is removed, 1 in 5 people claiming Universal Credit would be ‘very likely’ to need to use a food bank. Over the past year, the food banks in our network have already seen record levels of need and we need to make sure these don’t increase further. This simply isn’t right. We need your help to make a change. Tweet Rishi Sunak Alternatively, if you are not able to tweet the Chancellor, you can email the Treasury and let them know why the Universal Credit increase is so important. Email the Treasury “An extra £80 a month is almost a week’s worth of shopping for us. It’s the difference between being able to eat and having to choose between heating and food.” It only takes a minute to show your support. And with thousands of us standing together, we can make sure the UK Government knows just how important it is to keep this lifeline and extend it to people on legacy benefits – everyone deserves protection from destitution. When the Budget is announced on 3 March, we’ll see the impact this shared work has had as we build a better, more compassionate future. Your support for a #HungerFreeFuture is making a real difference. Thank you. Simon Hunger Free Future Campaign Manager Ps. Why not forward this email to a friend and ask them to push for change too? Or if you want to learn more about why people need to use food banks, watch this three minute video.