THE TUC has warned that more than 27,000 workers across Devon (43 per cent of those receiving Universal Credit) will be hit hard by the government’s planned cut to universal credit.

The majority of those hit by autumn cuts are working families.

A Total of 185,000 workers across the South West region are currently receiving universal credit – the equivalent of two in five (42 per cent) of all universal credit recipients. They will all be hit by the £20 per week cut.

Working tax credits is also being slashed in October, having been raised by £20 per week in early 2020.

This means that the majority of those affected by the £20 per week cut to benefits this autumn will be families who are working, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Key workers and rural areas are among the hardest hit with low-paid key workers among those worst affected and the TUC believes this will put further pressure on employers to provide decent pay rises.

Recent TUC research published this summer showed that one million children in key worker households are currently growing up in poverty – with many currently relying on in-work benefits like universal credit to boost poverty wages.

The analysis produced by the TUC also highlights areas in Devon where universal credit provides a much-needed “lifeline” for many workers. Constituencies, like East and South West Devon where decent jobs are scarce and average weekly wages among the lowest in the country, have higher proportions of workers relying on universal credit to top up wages than elsewhere in the region.

In addition to stopping the planned £20 per week cut to universal credit, the TUC is calling on the government to increase the minimum wage to £10 an hour, and urgently bring forward an employment bill to tackle insecure work.

South West TUC Regional Secretary Nigel Costley said: “Everyone should have enough money to live on yet many are struggling to make ends meet here in Devon.

“If the universal credit cut goes ahead many working families – and key workers – up and down the region will be forced to get by on much less every week. This is levelling down – not levelling up as we were promised. And with living costs continuing to rise, these plans make no sense.

“Ministers should abandon this cruel cut that will hit low-income working families. We need a social security system that helps people get back on their feet – not one that locks them in poverty.

“And we need decent jobs on decent pay for every Devon worker.

“That means increasing the minimum wage, significantly increasing investment that creates good local, green jobs, and tackling the scourge of insecure work. Devon has so much potential.

“Simply cutting universal credit is not the way to create decent work.”