Recommendation 108

Neil Cowan from The Poverty Alliance told us that with current work allowance arrangements have led to employment ‘becoming less, rather than more, reliable as a route out of poverty.’279 Nina Ballantyne of Citizens Advice Scotland called for the work allowance to be increased so that people can take on work ‘without being terrified it is going to affect their allowance straightaway’.280 They went on to highlight that this would allow for Universal Credit to ‘be part of the economic recovery’.281 Extending the work allowance to all workers was also noted by Citizen’s Advice Scotland in their written evidence as an important way for all households to recover from the covid-19 income crisis: Particularly in the current uncertain economic climate, the ability to take on what could be precarious work, safe in the knowledge that a person’s UC entitlement will be unaffected until they earn over the Work Allowance threshold would help bring more financial certainty to many people.282