UC claimants owe £200,000 in rent

ButTories say most had arrears under old system

Stirling Council tenants claiming universal credit owe almost £200,000 in rent arrears.

Figures revealed to the SNP following a Freedom of Information request show arrears for claimants renting from the council jumped £60,028 between September and October.

But publication of the new figures has prompted a political row, with Tories insisting most tenants on universal credit who are in arrears owed rent before moving on to the new benefit.

Stirling Council says 1041 of its tenants are on universal credit.

The new welfare set-up was introduced by the Westminster government and replaces six means-tested benefits including housing benefit, child tax credit, income support and jobseekers allowance.

It has been criticised because of delays in payments and the difficulties faced by many people in submitting online applications for the benefit.

Universal credit was rolled out in Stirling in June last year, when total rent arrears owed by Stirling Council tenants in receipt of the payment was £13,013. The figure in October this year was £192,462.

An FOI response in May this year showed that the number of people referred by Stirling Council to foodbanks had increased from 245 in 2016 to 412 in 2017, when universal credit came into force here.

Stirling SNP MSP Bruce Crawford said the rent arrears figure was “spiralling out of control”.

He added: “This is quite clearly a broken system and, similar to what we have seen elsewhere, has resulted in yet more vulnerable people being pushed into deeper hardship.”

SNP councillor for Bannockburn Alasdair MacPherson called for the system to be halted.

He said: “Tory politicians are quick to defend universal credit, telling us that they have ironed out the creases and fixed its problems.

“However, the facts speak for themselves.

“Stirling’s own Tory MP Stephen Kerr has been a relentless cheerleader for universal credit since he was elected to the Commons yet the most vulnerable people in his constituency are having difficulty being able to afford heating, eating and rent.”

Stirling Council’s Conservative group said figures they received from council officials on November 15 revealed 922 out of the 1041 tenants who get universal credit had arrears before their claim for the new benefit.

They say arrears accumulate under UC for a number of reasons, including the date on which claims are made, the date the council receives schedule payment, whether the housing element of UC is being claimed and the housing department not knowing that tenants have gone on to the new benefit.

Tories say around one in six tenants receive UC and they have arrears of almost £200,000. Total arrears for all current tenants are around £1 million.

A Scottish Conservatives spokesman said: “It comes as no suprise that disgraced SNP Councillor MacPherson, who was suspended from the council for bad behaviour, is happy to generate this spurious nonsense but it is sad that that our longserving MSP appears content to ally himself with it.

“There are many reasons why a tenant may be in rent arrears and it is a fact that many council tenants on universal credit owed rent before they were claiming that benefit.

“You don’t hear that from the SNP because it doesn’t suit their agenda. Their manipulation of facts is shameful.”

The most vulnerable people in this constituency are having difficulty being able to afford heating, eating and rent