(Reuters) – UK finance minister Rishi Sunak will announce a six-month extension to the 20-pound-a-week uplift to Universal Credit in the budget next week, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.
The uplift, which costs 6 billion pounds ($8.48 billion) a year, was due to expire at the end of March, and Sunak is said to have agreed to the half-year continuation after the Treasury department initially examined a rival proposal to offer a one-off payment of 500 pounds, according https://bit.ly/3aQdOsA to the newspaper.
Universal Credit is Britain’s main method of supporting those who are out of work, working in low-income jobs or eligible for welfare based on sickness or disability.
($1 = 0.7074 pounds)
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)
