UC increased payments during Coronavirus crisis

The Govt announcement increasing Universal Credit payments during the Coronavirus crisis did not mention JSA. Does the Respectful Benefits board have any inside info on this or any levers it can pull?

Hey-HeyJSA wrote:The Govt announcement increasing Universal Credit payments during the Coronavirus crisis did not mention JSA.  Does the Respectful Benefits board have any inside info on this or any levers it can pull?

Best answer I could find:

The packages are hoped to be temporary (although reality is that they are likely to be longer than 2 or 3 months currently talked about) and are aimed at people in work with a view to keeping them employed or helping them with the sudden loss of work. The government will hope that those entering the benefit system will leave it after a limited period

People on legacy benefits have, by definition and with limited exceptions, been on the benefit system for some time and in many, if not most, cases will have modest income from work so are not being hit by the crisis. Seems to me it is not the purpose of the emergency measures to provide additional money to existing claimants. Existing UC claimants are obviously going to benefit from any increases but I think this is an unintended consequence rather than a policy objective.

That’s my take on it anyway.

I hadn’t thought of the point Charles makes about the WTC increase possibly being eroded by claw back through other benefits.

https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/15760/

I was hoping to appeal to a sense of fairness and, since there are only a trickle of JSA claimants, the cost would not be prohibitive.