Write to your MP to ensure ESA is uplifted to match the £20 per week increase to Universal Credit

In March, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government announced an emergency increase of £20 a week for both Universal Credit (UC) and Working Tax Credits.

However the same increase was not extended to other ‘legacy’ benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), leaving many disabled people without this urgently-needed support.

DR UK says that this uplift must be extended to these ‘legacy’ benefits on the grounds that:

anything else would be discriminatory;
disabled people already face additional costs and reduced benefits; and
disabled people in particular face increased costs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Uplifting legacy benefits is necessary as many disabled people cannot move to UC due to the ‘Severe Disability Premium Gateway’ that prevents people claiming this payment from moving to UC, and the lack of transitional protections, which would leave many claimants worse if they were to move to UC.

Both the Social Security Advisory Committee and the Work and Pensions Select Committee as well as a number of MPs have called for the uplift to be introduced.

While the extra £20 a week in no way meets the real needs of disabled people who rely on benefits, it will help ease some immediate hardships, but it still wouldn’t mean the amount people receive is enough to live well.

DR UK's CEO Kamran Mallick said:

“By restricting the £20 week increase only to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, the Government continues to discriminate against the millions of disabled people on other benefits. Even before the Covid-19 crisis, benefit cuts and austerity hit disabled people the hardest.

The question a responsible Government should consider is: are those on ESA and other legacy benefits facing significant extra costs due to the pandemic like those on Universal Credit ? The answer is clearly yes - so the £20 increase should also be payable to them.”

In November, the Government will decide the new rates for benefits for the next financial year.

Now is our opportunity to make sure Chancellor MP doesn’t let over two million people go without the £20 per week increase for another year.

This call, started by the Disability Benefits Consortium (made up of over 100 disability organisations including DR UK) is backed by over 119,000 members of the public and has also been called for by the Work and Pensions Select Committee and the Social Security Advisory Committee.

Please ask your MP to back the call too.

You can find your MP and a template letter to email here: https://www.z2k.org/increase-legacy-benefits/