Make Up For Benefit Cuts By Working 200 More Hours

The Government has admitted that families receiving in-work benefits will lose out from April next year – but suggested they could make up the shortfall themselves if they worked harder. In what Labour has called Iain Duncan Smith’s “Christmas message”, the DWP proposed people “recoup the loss” from welfare reforms by doing three or four hours extra work every week. The Work and Pensions Secretary has insisted people on universal credit will not be made worse off by in-work benefit changes announced in the summer budget. Yet in a document released after Parliament broke up for the holidays, the DWP appeared to confirm that it expected working families to lose up to £1,600 a year. Read more on the Welfare Weekly website.