“Today’s announcement will help to ease the initial problems that many people face when moving over to Universal Credit, but the Government has decided to push ahead with big cuts to the amount of money people will receive. By failing to end the benefits freeze, the Government will oversee almost half a million extra people in poverty by the end of this Parliament.

“The Government’s big spending commitments for stamp duty giveaways and tax cuts prioritised higher earning households, with little support for people who need it most.

“The Government could have demonstrated it was on the side of low income families by lifting the freeze and providing a clear plan to deliver 80,000 genuinely affordable homes a year in England, instead of more funding for people who can already afford to buy.”