JRF publishes summary arguing inadequate Universal Credit is a barrier to work and calls for an Essentials Guarantee

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published a summary on 25 July 2023 arguing that inadequate Universal Credit is itself a barrier to work, and calling for an Essentials Guarantee in the benefit¹. The summary draws on existing research and sets out the case for a protected minimum level of support linked to the cost of essentials¹.

JRF says the standard allowance of Universal Credit is £85 per week for a single adult aged 25 or over, against what it calculates a single adult needs to cover essentials such as food, utilities, vital household items and travel, excluding rent and council tax: at least around £120 per week¹. It puts the resulting shortfall at at least £35 per week for that single adult and around £66 per week for a couple where at least one is aged 25¹. For adults under 25, who receive lower standard allowance rates, it reports a shortfall of £53 per week for a single adult and £94 per week for a couple¹.

The summary also addresses deductions. It says around half of households on Universal Credit face some form of deduction, including losing up to 25% of their standard allowance each month to repay debts to central government¹. On hardship, it states that around nine in ten low-income households on Universal Credit are going without essentials such as food, a warm home, adequate clothing or toiletries, and that nearly three million emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network last year¹. It says Universal Credit's basic rate, and its equivalents in previous systems, is now at around its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings, at 13%¹.

On public opinion, JRF cites polling finding 66% of the public think the basic rate is too low, 72% supported an Essentials Guarantee and 8% opposed it, and 62% of Conservative voters supported it¹.

JRF sets out three elements of the reform: that the Universal Credit standard allowance must at least meet the guaranteed level, with the same applying to legacy benefits ahead of full Universal Credit rollout; that deductions, including debt repayments to government or the benefit cap, can never pull support below that level; and an independent process to regularly determine the level based on the cost of essentials for the adults in a household, excluding rent and council tax¹.

Why it matters for households

The figures describe the gap between the standard allowance and what JRF calculates essentials cost, so they indicate how far the basic rate of Universal Credit falls short of that benchmark for households whose income is the standard allowance alone¹. Deductions matter separately: where a household has repayments to government or is affected by the benefit cap, the amount actually received can be below the headline rate, and JRF says around half of households on Universal Credit face some form of deduction¹. The proposal would change how the standard allowance is set and would prevent deductions reducing support below the guaranteed level, but it has not been adopted, so no change to payment rates follows from the publication¹. The summary does not report any costing of the proposal, any implementation timetable, or any response from the UK government; none of these has been reported¹.

What happens next

No next steps are set out in the summary beyond the recommendation that the government implement an Essentials Guarantee in Universal Credit¹. No date has been reported for a government response or for any legislation¹.