Published Article

HeadlineNew claimants for universal credit more likely to be women says latest data

Short HeadlineWomen more likely to be on universal credit latest data shows

StandfirstCoronavirus is believed to have had a significantly worse effect on women's employment prospects in the months since August.

City News has found that women are 23% more likely to be applying for Universal Credit in the London area.

This is based off data just released by the government showing the number of new claimants of universal credit per London borough. It revealed there were 24,000 new claimants last month in the whole of London.

Per borough, the data showed that the sharpest increase in claimants were among women. A drastic example of this disparity was seen in the City of London where the amount of women claiming increased by 19% versus a 2% increase for men.

In areas such as Tower Hamlets, many women’s groups are fully aware of this imbalance. Safia Jama is the founder of the Women’s Inclusive Team (WIT) initiative. She says that coronavirus has been highly damaging for the sort of jobs many women do in the area.

“A lot of them are on zero hour contracts which meant if there was no work they had to then go and apply for universal credit” she says. She pointed out that this was particularly the case for women who clean or  care for others for a living.

The second issue for women, she says, is centred around childcare: “if your children aren’t going to school you have to think twice about what jobs you could take on”.

WIT has functioned throughout the pandemic as a community kitchen and food bank where among other duties, it has helped women apply for universal credit.

Speaking about the recent data on Universal Credit Safia said: “what we do understand it that there are lots of barriers and lots of issues that underlie some of those figures”

Safia said that the rise in people on benefits in Tower Hamlets alone had been “huge”. Her organisation has been working with the aim of removing some of the pressure people have been feeling over losing their jobs.

The furlough scheme announced by the chancellor is due to continue until March but for many this has not saved them from having to sign on for financial support.

The recently released data has shown that even with lockdown set to ease next week on the 2nd December, the number of people on benefits is on course to increase greater still before the end of 2020.