Universal Credit

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 2:55 pm on 13 March 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Angela Rayner Angela Rayner Shadow Secretary of State for Education 2:55, 13 March 2018

That is absolutely right—my hon. Friend did make a really important point. Those who currently get free school meals who were not part of universal credit were in households on out-of-work benefits. If these regulations were to go through, the people on whom they would have the most detrimental effect would be those in work.

The current system would help more than 1 million more children than the plans we are voting on today. The former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mr Duncan Smith, once wrote that universal credit

“will ensure that work always pays and is seen to pay”,

yet under these plans, universal credit will mean that work does not pay for hundreds of thousands of families. Those just above the threshold would be better off earning less.