NAWRA co-signed a letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary expressing concerns about proposals to remove the health element from universal credit for young people:

As Alan Milburn has rightly identified, too many young people are being let down by systems that intervene too late and offer too little, including for disabled young people on universal credit. Change is needed. But this must be built around the principles of support and opportunity, rather than the failed punitive approaches of the past.

 

Many of our organisations support people driven into serious hardship by sanctions. Evidence shows that cutting benefits worsens health and deepens poverty, while strict conditionality and sanctions is particularly counterproductive and harmful for disabled people.

 

There are 184,000 young people aged 16-24 receiving the Universal Credit health element across the UK, representing just 6% of all recipients. These are young people with severe and complex needs, often living with multiple physical and mental health conditions and overlapping disadvantages including poverty, homelessness and childhood trauma …

Calling for reforms that would address concerns that disabled young people can too easily become disconnected from support and opportunity without removing the financial stability they need to engage with support in the first place, the letter adds:

They would mark a decisive break from past approaches that relied on tighter eligibility, harsher conditionality and increased sanctions, which harmed health and pushed people into poverty. A strong safety net, backed by investment in prevention, support and opportunity is the key to sustainably reducing the social security bill and improving young people’s life chances.

The letter was reported in The Guardian, The Independent, The Mirror, around 20 regional newspapers and on Sky News.

Read our letter to the Work and Pensions Secretary