Ending of the £20 Up Lift to Universal Credit

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic a weekly uplift of £20 was added to Universal Credit to help people weather the financial storm of the pandemic.

However, he Government is due to end the weekly uplift at the end of September which we know will have a huge impact on many visually impaired people in receipt of this support.

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Dominic Milne, Legal Rights Officer here at the RNIB, to find out why the Government is ending the uplift and how this might affect blind and partially sighted people.

Dominic began by explaining to Toby what the weekly £20 up lift is and why it was implemented at the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, what affect the ending of the up lift will have on blind and partially sighted people.

The RNIB’s Legal Rights Team along with other charities are rallying MP’s on all sides to urge the Government to make a u-turn on the ending of the up lift to Universal Credit.

Dominic and the rest of the Legal Rights Team are encouraging blind and partially sighted people who are in receipt of Universal Credit to contact their MP to urge them to put pressure on the Government to not end the £20 uplift to Universal credit. 

The RNIB’s Legal Rights Team can help you with finding your MP, contact details, providing you with a draft email letter to send to your MP and the Legal Rights Team can be contacted through the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999.

  

You can also contact the RNIB Helpline to to arrange a benefits check to ensure that you  are receiving the right benefits to help to manage the ending of the uplift to Universal Credit if it does go ahead.

More details about support and benefits can be found by visiting the following pages on the RNIB website via the following link -

(Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)