Anvar Sarygulov

April 2022

This new polling analysis comes a week after the Spring Statement, in which the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, decided not to increase the value of benefits such as Universal Credit in line with rising inflation, which will lead to a real terms decrease in the income of claimants. 

The polling finds that public support for using the benefits system to maintain living standards is very high, and the public believes financially vulnerable groups have become worse off during the pandemic, whereas those on higher incomes have become financially better off. The public is split, however, over whether current support is sufficient for benefit claimants.