MP blasts failing welfare reforms

‘Dickensian’ conditions created by new system

Fifers are increasingly reliant on crisis grants as benefit changes leave many facing “Dickensian” conditions, it has been claimed.

Fife MP Lesley Laird said the welfare reform is to blame for creating poverty and soaring rent arrears.

The Labour MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath said: “How can a government justify rolling out a benefits scheme ostensibly designed to support vulnerable people’s needs which only succeeds in creating abject poverty and destitution?”

Latest figures indicate that more than £120,000 was paid out in crisis grants in Fife alone during May – nearly twice the amount paid out in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, rent arrears owed by Fife Council tenants have soared by £100,000 a month since the roll out of Universal Credit and now total nearly £8.5 million.

Glenrothes area housing manager John Flaherty said avoiding rent arrears had been made a “number one priority”.

Fife MP Lesley Laird has called for an emergency overhaul of Universal Credit after latest figures suggested a grim picture of rising poverty across the region.

According to figures obtained by the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP, crisis grants totalling more than £225,000 were paid out to nearly 1,900 new Universal Credit claimants from March to May this year.

A total of £120,611 was paid out in crisis grants last month – nearly double the £60,578 total issued in May last year.

Of this, £77,707 was paid out to claimants affected by Universal Credit, which was rolled out in December.

Mrs Laird said welfare reform had “thrown communities back to a Dickenslike era, forcing swathes of the population to rely on charity to feed themselves and their children”.

The Scottish Welfare Fund figures were obtained through Fife Council.

It follows a revelation by the National Audit Office that the UK Government’s £1.9 billion Universal Credit system could end up costing more to administer than the benefits system it is replacing.

It also revealed 25% of new Universal Credit claimants, where benefits are combined in a single payment, were paid late, some by up to eight months.

The report found the use of foodbanks increased more rapidly after Universal Credit was introduced to an area.

This has been the case in Kirkcaldy, where the town’s foodbank has seen costs spiral since March from £3,000 a month to nearly £8,000.

“We heard that Kirkcaldy Foodbank is in fear that it won’t be able to feed everyone should demand rise any further,” said Mrs Laird.

“How can a government justify rolling out a benefits scheme ostensibly designed to support vulnerable people’s needs which only succeeds in creating abject poverty and destitution?

“People in a 21st Century society should not be reduced to this.”

Mrs Laird added: “The facts are now on the table for all to see.

“Universal credit is yet another example of Theresa May’s hostile environment. Let’s see if her conscience will stop this destitution by design.”

We heard that Kirkcaldy Foodbank is in fear that it won’t be able to feed everyone should demand rise any further. LESLEY LAIRD MP

Picture: Steven Brown. A petition against Universal Credit in Glenrothes at the end of last year.