What does £20 mean to you? For some families, it’s the difference between the cupboards being full or empty. 

At the start of the pandemic, the government introduced the Universal Credit uplift, an extra £20 a week for the people who needed it most. From today, that benefit ends. 

In today’s episode, our Social Affairs Editor Jackie Long explains why the number of people receiving Universal Credit has doubled since the start of the pandemic, and asks what the ending of the uplift could mean, amidst rising costs of living and worries about a long winter ahead.