Chamberlain urges Government to review Universal Credit transition for farmers

In April, Chamberlain hosted a Westminster Hall debate on the issues farmers face with the transition to Universal Credit. She highlighted several difficulties farmers have encounters such as:

• Potential to lose universal credit due to monthly income reporting that does not take into account fluctuating income.
• The imposition of the Minimum Income Floor. Farmers may lose universal credit when going through a particularly unprofitable time period as a result of this change which will come in after 12 months.
• Concerns around how Work Coaches assess “gainful employment” for farmers.
• The additional administrative burden on farmers in comparison to Tax Credits.
• Concerns that the requirements to talk to Universal Credit work coaches and attend job centres does not fit around the full time nature of farming.

When the General Election was called at the end of May, Chamberlain wrote to the then Secretary of State urging him to reverse the transition or at least halt it for six weeks while peak farming season is underway. The Government took no action on this at the time.

This week marked Back British Farming Week and Chamberlain took the opportunity to write to the new Secretary of State to highlight the issues faced and urgently review the transition from Working tax Credits to Universal Credit for farmers.

In the letter, Ms Chamberlain wrote: “We know that there is a mental health crisis in farming, which is simply worsened by the stress which the Universal Credit system is putting people under.

“This week, many of us in Parliament will be pledging to Back British Farming and to prioritise those who put the food on our tables.

“I urge you to do just that and to put all farming families into a support system which will work for them, and our nation’s food supply, in the long term.”

She later commented: “Farmers are the reason we are able to eat, the reason our loved ones are able to eat, yet the way the Universal Credit system works means than many of them are not able to feed themselves or their loved ones.

“That is why I have written to the Secretary of State urging him to urgently review the transition system for farmers and ensure proper support is in place.”