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Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has defended the decision to end the 20 per week uplift to universal credit at the end of September. But that would not mean the government was no longer committed to helping people, he said.
The increase was introduced as a temporary measure at the start of the pandemic. Ministers have been under pressure to make it permanent, but Sunak said it would end. Speaking on a visit to Scotland, he said:
That was always meant to be a temporary intervention, that was clear from the outset. Like furlough and the other things we've done, some will start to ease off.
But we're not done helping people get through this.
There's lots of different ways we can help those people. What we're doing is providing support in a way that will sustainably help those people.
I think the right thing is to help those families into really high-paid work, that's the best way to help those children.
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