By Vivienne Russell
11 February 2011
Low and middle-income families stand to lose more than £2,700 a year under the government’s planned welfare reforms, according to trade unionists.
The Trades Union Congress today warned that working families would lose thousands of pounds in benefits and tax credits in the run up to the introduction of the Universal Credit in 2013.
The government had promised that there would be ‘no losers’ in the shift to a single benefits payment, but the TUC says significant reductions in the overall welfare bill will be needed to fulfil this pledge. It highlights the forthcoming cuts to Housing Benefit, Child Benefit and Working Tax Credit and the change of index used to uprate benefits. The move from the Retail Prices Index to the lower Consumer Prices Index will reduce the real value of benefits over time, saving the Treasury £5.8bn by 2015, it said.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘The government’s “no losers” welfare pledge will ring hollow if families suffer thousands of pounds worth of cuts in the years running up to the switch to Universal Credit.
‘Workers are already suffering an income squeeze and government austerity will make low and middle-income families even worse off. ‘Welfare cuts of over £2,700 a year on top of service cuts like the end of free ante-natal classes and the closure of Sure Start centres are the worst possible conditions in which to introduce Universal Credit.’
