Majority of public support making £20 per week Universal Credit uplift permanent
New polling by Ipsos MORI for The Health Foundation shows a majority of the public support making the £20 per week Universal Credit uplift permanent.
The Health Foundation has today released new polling data with Ipsos MORI looking at the public’s attitudes towards the Government’s measures to tackle the public health and economic impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In April, the government introduced the £20 a week increase in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit for families during the pandemic. The survey shows strong support for this increase, with three quarters (74%) supporting the increase during the pandemic and only one in ten (nine percent) opposing this.
However, the increase is currently expected to be reversed in April 2021. The data shows that a majority (59%) of the public support making the £20 increase in Universal Credit permanent beyond April 2021, with one in five (20%) opposing this.
The Health Foundation/Ipsos MORI research also finds that public support for the UK government's response to the pandemic has fallen further since May. Only 39% of the public think the government has handled the pandemic well, a fall of 21 percentage points from 60% in May. However there is a clear divide on this along political lines, with 71% of Conservative voters saying the UK Government has handled the pandemic well, compared with just 15% of Labour voters.
Other findings include:
- A majority of the public (57%) supports the principle of applying tighter restrictions in areas with higher cases of the virus. However, a significant minority (35%) think the restrictions should apply equally, regardless of levels of the virus.
- Around half (49%) think the measures the Government has taken so far to tackle the Coronavirus outbreak do not go far enough (no change from July when this was 50%). Since May the public have become less likely to think that the measures are about right. In November, only around one third (33%) think the measures are about right, down from 40% in July and 58% in May. The public are now more likely to think that the measures the Government has taken go too far than in July (up from six per cent in July to 14% in November).
- The public is relatively divided on whether or not it is possible to equally protect public health and the economy during the pandemic. While 45% think it is possible, 37% think it is not, and 18% do not offer an opinion or do not know.
- People continue to be very concerned about the longer-term impacts of COVID-19. Nearly 9 in 10 (86%) are concerned about the risk COVID-19 presents to the health and wellbeing of the nation, while even more (94%) are concerned about the risk to health and wellbeing of the knock-on impact of Coronavirus on lifestyles and the economy - with more very concerned than in July (up from 67% to 72%).