Universal Credit crunch
Nine Scottish councils spend £8million mitigating some of the damage caused by Tories’ flawed flagship benefits policy
CASH-STRAPPED Scottish councils are spending millions of pounds undoing the damage caused by Universal Credit, the Daily Record can reveal.
We told yesterday how East Lothian Council set aside £325,000 to mitigate the devastating effects of the discredited welfare reform.
Freedom of information requests to other councils show those costs are just the tip of the iceberg.
Critics last night seized on the revelations as further proof the changes should be scrapped.
Aberdeen City Council have set aside £2.85million for the “potential impact of welfare reform which includes the roll-out of Universal Credit”.
Midlothian Council estimate a £1.58million cost of UC roll-out. They estimate an extra £1.5million on bad debt provision due to increased rent arrears and have taken on three new staff to tackle the problem at a cost of £86,000.
Meanwhile, Highland Council have increased their bad debt provision by £650,000 and taken on additional staff totalling £124,000 to deal with “increased preventative work on managing rent arrears”.
Inverclyde have set aside £1.26million including £165,000 on new staff between 2017-2021 and a £128,000, or 68 per cent, increase in Scottish Welfare Fund Crisis Grants funding.
South Ayrshire Council have set aside a total of £900,000 to cover “mitigating the impact of welfare reform”. Perth & Kinross Council has estimated an increase in bad debt provision of £442,000.
The nine councils who responded to the FOI request had allocated a total of £8.7million to mitigate the UC roll-out.
The actual cost across all 32 local authorities in Scotland will be much greater. SNP MSP Maree Todd said: “The relentless roll-out of universal credit makes no sense. It’s driving people into poverty and severe hardship – leaving councils to foot the bill.
“Universal Credit is the worst example of unthinking Tory austerity – a policy designed to save money but actually proving very costly indeed.
“Almost £9million has been set aside by local authorities to sort out the Tories’ mess. That means funding diverted from schools, roads and vital local services.
“And the figures only represent a fraction of what price councils may have to pay once the full, devastating impact of the roll-out is realised across Scotland.”
Universal Credit aims to simplify the welfare system by replacing six benefits and tax credits with a single monthly payment. It replaces Housing Benefit, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment & Support Allowance, Child Tax Credits and Working Tax Credits.
Controversy over the new system has been focused on the way the initial wait for payments of six weeks or more leaves claimants without money for long stretches.
Theresa May yesterday insisted the Government have reacted to “concerns” about the programme.
The Prime Minister said eight per cent of people claiming benefits are on UC, rising to 10 per cent by January. She intends the transfer to be complete by 2022.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions by quoting Tory Welsh Assembly member Angela Burns.
Corbyn said: “She called Universal Credit callous at best and downright cruel at worst, and concluded by saying she’s ashamed of her Government.
“Can the Prime Minister ease her colleague’s shame by pausing and fixing Universal Credit?”
He added later: “Universal Credit is in such a mess that councils are being forced to pick up the bill.”