Millions more Brits will go onto the new benefits system in the coming months, but having to provide proof of their right to residence could create another huge problem, experts have said.
Last week the Chancellor revealed that Brits will be able to get more help moving onto Universal Credit – but those changes won’t come in until 2020.
He also announced Brits will be able to earn up to £630 more as a result of changes in the work allowance, but those won’t start to kick in until April either.
Next year those people who are currently on benefits will have to start moving over to the new system. 10,000 people will be trialled at first, and the rest will follow in the coming years.
But Dan Finn, Emeritus Professor of Social Inclusion at the University of Portsmouth, warned that there are still many problems with the new system that need to be ironed out first.
He said in a blog for the London School of Economics that ministers are proposing "a campaign of ‘warm up’ messages advising claimants to prepare for change, for example, by ensuring they have evidence of identification and proof of their right to residence."
But he added that this could end up "creating potential for another Windrush scandal".
Earlier this year thousands of people from the Caribbean who arrived in the UK as kids were threatened with deportation.
The Windrushers were told they were here illegally despite having lived and worked in the country for decades.
Dr Finn added: "If someone fails to make a claim on time they risk not only an immediate loss of income but when they do apply they may lose their transitional protection."
There is a chance that large numbers of Brits will miss their deadline and thus not get the transitional protection money which is set to make sure they don't lose out.
The transition risks pushing many more households into debt, he went on.
He praised the changes made in successive budgets – including slashing the wait time down to five weeks from six, and giving more rent support and help with advance payments.
But he also points out that the Budget has done little to offset the "erosion in the household incomes" of those who aren't in work, and says the four-year benefits freeze is set to bite claimants again next year.
"Anyone who thought that the Budget might end austerity for benefit claimants has been disappointed," he said.
The new system will roll six benefits into one monthly payment – but has been beset with problems so far.
MPs have even threatened to block the Universal Credit switch altogether unless protections are made for the vulnerable.
Today The Sun revealed that a loophole in the Universal Credit system has let fraudsters claim £100,000 in fake advance payments.
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