An increase in Newham residents claiming welfare benefits has resulted in calls for government intervention.
By Aidan White
The number of people claiming welfare benefit in Newham is reaching record levels provoking calls for government action to
combat the scourge of low pay and poverty.
London Assembly Member Unmesh Desai AM says the Government needs to act over low pay following new figures showing that there are now 54,425 Universal Credit claimants in the Borough – including a rise of 1316 in a month, the third biggest increase in London.
Almost 39 percent of people on Universal Credit in Newham are in work, according to Government figures and people are often forced to claim benefit in order to make ends meet because of low wages and insecure hours.
Desai, the Labour London Assembly Member for City and East London, said: “It is a travesty that so many Londoners are forced to claim Universal Credit by low pay and Government mismanagement of the economy. Instead of finding work that pays, many of these people have been cheated out of good jobs by a Government intent on doing nothing to raise wages.”
He said the Government must take action over low pay, and end the prevalence of insecure work and poor workers’ rights. He criticised the failure to address zero-hour contracts and for engaging in protracted industrial disputes rather than paying public sector workers properly.
Across London as a whole he says low pay has contributed to around a million Londoners relying on Universal Credit with more than a half (51 percent) of working-age Londoners living in poverty are already in work.
Universal Credit has also failed to keep up with rising costs, meaning that thousands of people in Newham have not been able to buy basic goods.
Around 90 percent of low-in-come households on Universal Credit are currently going without essentials, according to data from the Russell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Claimants are going without food, hygiene products or basic utilities because Universal Credit does not cover all the basic costs of living.
He said that London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the Greater London Assembly has been leading the way to lift people out of poverty, extending the free school meals scheme for a second year to save families more than £1000 for each child.
“Now the Government must play their part by improving workers’ conditions,” he said.
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