Did increasing the UK’s Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits by £20 per week in 2020-21 reduce food insecurity?

Loopstra, Rachel, Baumberg Geiger, Ben and Reeves, Aaron (2025) Did increasing the UK’s Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits by £20 per week in 2020-21 reduce food insecurity? Journal of Social Policy, 55 (2). pp. 405-422. ISSN 0047-2794, 1469-7823

Text LoopstraBaumbergReeves_UCUpliftFoodInsecurity_ForRepository.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (120kB)

Abstract

This paper evaluates the UK Government's decision to increase the main form of social security by £20 per week during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, exploring whether increasing the generosity of social security for some, but not all, claimants affected food insecurity. Using the Family Resources Survey, we found a decline of about 7 percentage points in food insecurity amongst benefit claimants affected by the uplift compared with claimants not affected (95% CI -13.9 to -0.9%). This association did not change substantively following adjustment for covariates, nor when the model was re-estimated using matching methods. Results were not driven by changes in the composition of claimants over time. These analyses suggest food insecurity could be reduced if the generosity of the social security system increased. In actuality, the UK government went in the opposite direction, removing the £20 uplift in October 2021, potentially exposing claimants to higher rates of food insecurity again.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	food insecurity, social security, Universal Credit, United Kingdom
Divisions:	Faculty of Health & Life Sciences Faculty of Health & Life Sciences > Inst. Population Health
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	05 Mar 2025 09:23
Last Modified:	07 Mar 2026 11:53
DOI:	10.1017/S0047279425000091
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3190659
Disclaimer:	The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate.