LRD guides and handbook June 2020

State support and coronavirus - a trade union guide

Chapter 4

4: Support for the unemployed and those whose earnings are cut:
Universal Credit and New Style Jobseeker's Allowance

[ch 4: page 28]

Even with government financial support described earlier in this booklet, the coronavirus crisis has wreaked havoc on the UK economy and thrown millions of people out of work. Between 16 March 2020, when the lockdown came into effect, and 26 May the DWP received 2.9 million individual “declarations” to Universal Credit, the main unemployment benefit. As the furlough scheme is wound down from August, increasing numbers of previously furloughed employees may be made redundant.