Surge in crisis grants

APPLICATIONS for crisis grants in Fife increased by 17.5% after the roll-out of Universal Credit.

The controversial welfare reform was i ntroduced in the region on December 4 and the increase was recorded between December 6 and the end of February.

Fife Council’s SNP coleader Councillor David Alexander said: “Despite our bitter opposition to Universal Credit, it’s here and causing a lot of misery for many.

“As a council we’ve already allocated about £3 million to help minimise the i mpact of t he UK Government’s changes to welfare reform.

“And i n our recent budget for 2018-19 we’ve committed more t han £600,000.”

After the Department for Work and Pensions rolled out Universal Credit i n December, more t han 2,300 claims were made in the region.

Fife’s Labour co-leader Councillor David Ross said: “We’ve expressed our concerns about welfare reform over and over again.”