Chancellor Philip Hammond is expected to make an announcement on Universal Credit next month [Image: The Independent].

And the fact is, it won’t make much of a difference. They’ll still be asking people to live on nothing but air (we recently discovered it’s not so fresh after all, and people are dying because of the pollutants in it, remember) for 28 days.

That’s plenty of time in which they can starve.

Ministers are reportedly preparing for a major U-turn on the rollout of Universal Credit in the Budget by reducing the controversial six-week wait to four for the first payment to claimants.

It comes after weeks of sustained pressure on Downing Street from Conservative backbenchers, the Labour party and charities warning the Government’s flagship welfare programme – due to be accelerated this month – is pushing recipients into poverty, arrears and a reliance on food banks.

The main anxiety among MPs and charities focuses on the six-week wait claimants are forced to endure before receiving their first payment under the new regime after transferring from the legacy benefits system.

Source: Conservatives ‘planning Budget U-turn’ over rollout of Universal Credit regime

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