ANTI-POVERTY campaigners warned today that one in three families in hundreds of constituencies around Britain are set to be hit with the biggest overnight cut in benefits since the second world war when the universal credit uplift ends next month.

A new study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) revealed that, in 413 parliamentary constituencies around Britain, the planned end to the £20-per-week benefits rise will hit at least a third of working-age families with children.

The temporary uplift, due to end on October 6, was introduced to help claimants weather the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic, but MPs and charities have called for it to be made permanent.

The cut, which amounts to more than £1,000 per year, could affect a significant number of Tory constituencies, with 191 of the 413 areas cited by the JRF currently represented by a Conservative MP.

The data prompted some government backbenchers to plead with their leadership to make the uplift permanent.

But Boris Johnson indicated that he would press ahead with the cut, claiming: “My strong preference is for people to see their wages rise through their efforts rather than through taxation of other people put into their pay packets.”

Some 64 per cent of working-age families with children in the Tory constituency of Peterborough are set to be affected, while 82 per cent will feel the pinch in Labour-held Bradford West.

JRF deputy director of policy and partnerships Katie Schmuecker said: “Now is the time for all MPs to step up and oppose this cut to their constituents’ living standards.

“Plunging low-income families into deeper poverty and debt as well as sucking billions of pounds out of local economies is no way to level up.

“It’s not too late for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to listen to the huge opposition to this damaging cut and change course.”

Labour said it would maintain the uplift if it were in government, describing the cut as a “hammer blow to millions of families.” It added that it would ultimately replace the benefit with a “fairer” system.

MSPs responded as the study also found that Glasgow contains the three Scottish constituencies set to be hit most heavily by the cut.

Across Scotland, 37 per cent of working-age families with children are set to lose £1,034 per year, but this rises to 63 per cent of such families in Glasgow Central, 55 per cent in Glasgow South West and 54 per cent in Glasgow North East.

Glasgow MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “The UK government must think again and keep the uplift. 

“If they press ahead with this it will return social security support to the lowest level in decades and will end once and for all any pretence that they care about a just recovery from the pandemic.”

Citizens Advice also warned that front-line services are bracing for a wave of hardship this autumn, as a survey of over 2,000 people on universal credit showed that more than a third would be in debt after paying just their essential bills if their benefits drop by £20 a week.

The group warned of a triple whammy of benefit cuts, rising energy bills and further redundancies as the furlough scheme ends.

Chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said that the cut undermines Britain’s chance of a more equal recovery by tipping families into the red and taking money from the communities most in need.

“The government must listen to the growing consensus that it should reverse course and keep this vital lifeline,” she said.

The Jubilee Debt Campaign warned that unless the planned cut to universal credit is reversed and a grant scheme introduced to help families with their finances, households will be weighed down by debt for years. 

In a statement, the government said that the temporary measure had helped the most in need through the pandemic and claimed that the benefit will continue to provide a safety net as the focus moves to a plan for jobs.