Universal Credit forced me into sex act for food

Mum tells MPs of struggles on benefit

SMILING Barbara Windsor gets a hug from Les Miserables stars Matt Lucas and Michael Ball during a rare public appearance.

Matt, 45, said of the meeting at the Gielgud Theatre in London: “Another day, another superstar in the audience.”

In 2014, the actress, 82, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

A DESPERATE mum was forced into swapping sex for food after Universal Credit left her destitute.

The woman said a shop manager offered her £40 of stock in exchange for oral sex after he caught her stealing.

Long waits and incorrect UC payments left her struggling. In evidence to MPs, the London woman, said: “The manager said if I gave him [oral sex] he’d let me off.

“It was that or have the police called. He said if I did the same next week, he’d let me have £40 of stock. It seemed like a fortune. My [benefits] money was gone on bills before I’d even thought of food.”

Another woman, of Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, was

“sex working every few days” to pay rent.

The Commons Work and Pensions Committee heard many stories of “survival sex”.

In a report out today, the committee asked the Work and Pensions Department to review UC claimants’ “lived experience” and cut the fiveweek wait for the first payment. The DWP said it is “determined to ensure no one finds themselves in this position”.

■ The European Court of Human Rights has told the Government to pay £8,600 to a domestic violence victim forced to pay extra for a panic room under the Tories’ Bedroom Tax rules.