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| Iain Duncan Smith to challenge Theresa May on universal credit cuts | Iain Duncan Smith to challenge Theresa May on universal credit cuts |
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| Iain Duncan Smith is to challenge Theresa May to reverse £3.4bn of cuts to universal credit as a report claims they will leave 3 million working claimants £1,000 a year worse off. | |
| The former work and pensions secretary, who resigned from the cabinet in March over disability benefit reductions, will seize on the promise made by the prime minister on the steps of No 10 to help those who are “just about managing”, by calling on the government to invest in in-work benefits. | |
| “Most people on benefits want to work. They want a regular routine, an interaction with a community outside the home, a stake in society and a sense of purpose,” he will say on Friday. | “Most people on benefits want to work. They want a regular routine, an interaction with a community outside the home, a stake in society and a sense of purpose,” he will say on Friday. |
| “Every penny invested in universal credit will go to low-paid workers, yet this is true of just 25p of every £1 invested in the income tax personal allowance. Investing in universal credit is a far better way of supporting those who need it most.” | “Every penny invested in universal credit will go to low-paid workers, yet this is true of just 25p of every £1 invested in the income tax personal allowance. Investing in universal credit is a far better way of supporting those who need it most.” |
| Duncan Smith introduced universal credit to combine employment support allowance, income support, child tax credit, working tax credit and housing benefit into one system. | Duncan Smith introduced universal credit to combine employment support allowance, income support, child tax credit, working tax credit and housing benefit into one system. |
| At the time of his resignation, Duncan Smith accused George Osborne and David Cameron, then chancellor and prime minister, of chasing an “arbitrary” spending cap by focusing cuts on those who “can less afford to have that fall on them”. | At the time of his resignation, Duncan Smith accused George Osborne and David Cameron, then chancellor and prime minister, of chasing an “arbitrary” spending cap by focusing cuts on those who “can less afford to have that fall on them”. |
| On Friday, the Centre for Social Justice, a thinktank chaired by Duncan Smith, released a report saying 3 million universal credit claimants would be £1,000 a year poorer by the time the scheme had fully replaced working tax credit in 2022. | On Friday, the Centre for Social Justice, a thinktank chaired by Duncan Smith, released a report saying 3 million universal credit claimants would be £1,000 a year poorer by the time the scheme had fully replaced working tax credit in 2022. |
| “The first steps someone makes into the job market are often the most difficult and yet they are the most important. For someone who has been out of work for a while, the work environment can be a daunting place. These people need to be encouraged and supported to make this transition well,” it said. | “The first steps someone makes into the job market are often the most difficult and yet they are the most important. For someone who has been out of work for a while, the work environment can be a daunting place. These people need to be encouraged and supported to make this transition well,” it said. |
| “Moreover, those in relatively low-paid work need to receive appropriate support. This is precisely what the UC [universal credit] work allowances were designed to do when the CSJ first developed this reform. This is why they are so important.” | “Moreover, those in relatively low-paid work need to receive appropriate support. This is precisely what the UC [universal credit] work allowances were designed to do when the CSJ first developed this reform. This is why they are so important.” |
| IDS being interviewed by @BBCNews on CSJ call 4 Govt 2 reverse Universal Credit cuts so low income workers have more money in their pockets pic.twitter.com/l1s26cI1V7 | IDS being interviewed by @BBCNews on CSJ call 4 Govt 2 reverse Universal Credit cuts so low income workers have more money in their pockets pic.twitter.com/l1s26cI1V7 |
| Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of his intervention, Duncan Smith said cuts to the in-work element of universal credit would frustrate the aim to coax more people into the workforce. | Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of his intervention, Duncan Smith said cuts to the in-work element of universal credit would frustrate the aim to coax more people into the workforce. |
| “One of the key elements … is that as you cross into work, the thing called the work allowance, the amount of money which you can retain before it’s tapered away, so that’s allowed for somebody with sickness or disability or whatever, those were all reduced, and the problem with that means it’s more difficult therefore to get people into work and keep them in work,” he said. | “One of the key elements … is that as you cross into work, the thing called the work allowance, the amount of money which you can retain before it’s tapered away, so that’s allowed for somebody with sickness or disability or whatever, those were all reduced, and the problem with that means it’s more difficult therefore to get people into work and keep them in work,” he said. |
| “I think, as I say, the government needs to be flexible enough to review things when they think it is not going to work and press the point. We want people into work, we have got more people into work, we want them to progress through work. | “I think, as I say, the government needs to be flexible enough to review things when they think it is not going to work and press the point. We want people into work, we have got more people into work, we want them to progress through work. |
| “But also, importantly, we want to make sure work always pays, and one of the key elements going forward will be we need to get that lift, and you will get that if those allowances are restored. | “But also, importantly, we want to make sure work always pays, and one of the key elements going forward will be we need to get that lift, and you will get that if those allowances are restored. |
| “I put this paper forward in the hope that what I’m asking for gets delivered, because … [the] prime minister, I genuinely believe, wants to deliver for the bottom five-tenths. | “I put this paper forward in the hope that what I’m asking for gets delivered, because … [the] prime minister, I genuinely believe, wants to deliver for the bottom five-tenths. |
| “Universal credit is designed to do that and therefore we should put the money there, rather than going for another lift in the [income tax] thresholds.” | “Universal credit is designed to do that and therefore we should put the money there, rather than going for another lift in the [income tax] thresholds.” |
| Owen Smith, the former shadow work and pensions secretary, backed Duncan Smith’s intervention and called for a Commons vote on the planned cuts. | |
| “Iain Duncan Smith spent a year defending his own cruel cuts to universal credit, falsely reassuring MPs and the public that no one would lose out, not even by a penny,” he said. | |
| “So it’s welcome that he and a growing number of Tory MPs are realising the true impact these cuts will have on low-paid workers. As with tax credits, it’s now clear the government doesn’t have enough support for these changes to go ahead. | |
| “If the cuts to universal credit aren’t abandoned in the autumn statement, there needs to be an urgent vote in parliament to defeat them outright and to spare millions of low-paid workers these devastating reductions to in-work support.” | |
| Debbie Abrahams, the current shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Even the man chiefly responsible for the Tories’ cruel and ineffective social security reforms is backing Labour’s call for the government to reverse these nasty cuts to work incentives in the social security system. | |
| “This government claimed they wanted to make work pay, but then slashed the budget of Universal Credit, leaving 2.5 million working families £2,100 worse off. Labour is calling for the full reversal of these damaging cuts, to restore the principle that work always pays.” | |
| Duncan Smith is one of a number of Conservative backbenchers preparing to campaign against the planned cuts to in-work benefits in the hope they will be reversed by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, in his statement on 23 November. | |
| Heidi Allen, the South Cambridgeshire MP who confronted May about the issue at prime minister’s questions this month, has described the rollout as a “ticking time bomb” and said she “won’t rest” until the cuts are softened. |