MINISTERS must extend the emergency increase for benefit claimants or risk plunging half a million people into deep poverty next spring, a report warns today.

The £20 increase to universal credit and working tax credit has been a “vital lifeline” for low-income households during the Covid-19 crisis, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said.

The charity warned that if the emergency measure is removed as planned in April 2021, 700,000 people could be plunged into poverty while the incomes of 16 million people could suffer a hit of £1,040 per year.