“Targeted welfare measures combined with universal household energy credits will do more for most lower-income households this winter than had welfare payment rates risen in line with inflation both this year and next.”
“Targeted welfare measures combined with universal household energy credits will do more for most lower-income households this winter than had welfare payment rates risen in line with inflation both this year and next.”
2 comments
Won’t get as much attention as it should. Yes it might need to be repeated in 12 months time, but we don’t know now how the inflation will look in a year’s time, or energy costs etc, so rather than hardwire increases in I think it makes sense to do them on a temporary basis and see how we’re fixed in a year.
As the ESRI say, the measures announced are doing more for the next 12 months than had the Government just increased welfare rates in line with inflation, which is what everyone was calling for.
The problem is that there’s inflation in food prices too, people on HAP don’t get the rent credit, and many are already fucked with the topups they have to pay and the energy credit without any additional power for the CRU to reject spurious price increases means those credits could be little more than a direct transfer to energy companies