12:32

The Treasury Committee is demanding urgent action from the chancellor to help newly self-employed, graduates, those with savings and others who have who have fallen through the gaps in income support measures announced so far.

Mel Stride MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, said:

Telling self-employed people to access Universal Credit is not enough – especially given the issues with the five-week wait. Many people – self-employed or not – are having issues with claiming UC and contacting the DWP.

He added that the UC system also unfairly penalises people for having larger savings.

Currently the biggest bar to many will be the fact that anyone with savings of £16,000 or more cannot claim, except for jobseeker’s allowance of £74.35 a week, and will receive no help with their rent.

The committee listed six groups of people it said have fallen through the gaps in the supports announced so far.