More than 2million people have now claimed benefits since the coronavirus outbreak took hold in the UK. An astonishing 1.8million have claimed Universal Credit, 250,000 claimed jobseekers’ allowance and 20,000 claimed Employment and Support Allowance between March 16 and the end of April.
Even now UC claims are still running at around 25,000 a day - double the usual rate, MPs heard. The new figures suggest around 5million people may now be on Universal Credit in the UK - many of them in work on low incomes.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey announced the vast figures and admitted people had at first “experienced significant delays in verifying their identity.” She insisted waits for ID checks are now down to five minutes.