Self-employed breathe sigh of relief after Universal Credit delay

by Susie Hughes at 13:37 07/01/19 (News on Business)

A small business group has welcomed the decision to halt the further roll-out of Universal Credit, while also urging the Government to reform the parts of the policy that punish the self-employed.

Advertisement Freelancer group, IPSE’s Jordan Marshall said: “Self-employed people can be thousands of pounds worse-off each year under Universal Credit compared to full-time employees making a similar amount. “This is because Universal Credit calculations don’t account for monthly fluctuations in self-employed income. “IPSE is calling on the Government to use the delay in the roll-out to fix these flaws which punish the self-employed. “Unless the system is reformed, Universal Credit will continue to sap the incentive to run your own self-employed business.” Delay The delay comes after Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd steered away from seeking MPs' consent to move the total three million existing welfare claimants to Universal Credit. Her department will instead pursue approval for plans for a pilot scheme to move an initial 10,000 people onto the all-encompassing benefit in July. Ms Rudd will no longer seek the House of Commons' approval, in a vote due soon, to move all welfare claimants to Universal Credit until the pilot scheme is deemed a success. The Prime Minister, Theresa May, insisted that it will be fully rolled out by 2023 as was originally intended. Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2018

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