Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary says: “The Universal Credit system has been plagued with issues and continues to be a failing project. Over the past three years, well over half a million children have been affected by the two-child limit, driving hundreds of thousands of families into poverty. The five-week wait period is not only unnecessary but is sending people into debt from which they struggle to recover.

“Usdaw is calling on the Chancellor to use his first Budget to finally scrap both the two-child limit and the five-week wait period, both of which are long overdue. These measures were jointly called for by academics, MPs, unions, and charities in a letter to the Government organised by the Making Ends Meet campaign.

“The Chancellor also needs tackle many of the structural issues with Universal Credit. Our evidence shows that 67% of in-work claimants are paid on a four-weekly basis; however Universal Credit does not recognise this payment structure. We also know from our members that Universal Credit penalises them for taking on additional hours, meaning that it is failing in its central premise of making work pay.

“Therefore Usdaw is urging the Chancellor to engage with trade unions and charities so that we can jointly and urgently fix the mistakes of the past.”

Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with over 400,000 members. Membership has increased by more than one-third over the last couple of decades. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemicals and other trades.
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion