177k WORKING Scots will be hit by UC cut

Johnson’s snatch of £1k-a-year uplift will hit vulnerable the hardest

NEARLY 180,000 working people in Scotland will be hit by the Tories’ slashing Universal Credit by £20 a week.

More than 100,000 singleparent households and 11,000 families with disabled children will also see their income slashed.

The Tory Government’s uplift in UC, worth over £1000 a year, was a lifeline over the pandemic.

However, Boris Johnson is refusing to make the rise permanent and hard-pressed Scots will lose the cash from next month.

SNP MSP Neil Gray blasted: “This Tory government’s choice to inflict the biggest overnight cut to social security since World War 2 – hammering people both in and out of work – is a crime against decency.

“The sheer scale of misery they will inflict is horrific.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey was savaged recently for saying claimants could make up the loss with longer hours.

Johnson was also accused of insensitivity after saying he wanted people’s wages to rise “through their efforts”.

The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICE) has provided a breakdown of the households receiving the benefit.

As of May, the number of people in work who were on UC was 176,935, while the figure for single parents was 104,536.

The number of households on UC where the claim included an additional element for a disabled child stood at 11,887 and 33,143 for carers.

The figure was 2737 for households with a “limited capability for work” and 63,406 for a “limited capability for work-related activity”.

SPICE figures also showed there were 412,916 universal credit households in May.

These included 63,339 in Glasgow, 32,022 in Edinburgh, 25,493 in South Lanarkshire and 29,496 in North Lanarkshire.

Other research shows that withdrawing the uplift will move around 50,000 people, including 10,000 children, into poverty.

Gray added: “It will have a devastating impact on working families, single-parent families, carer families and many others to find or stay in a job, stripping many of the ability to put food on the table or keep warm as we head into winter.”

Labour MSP Pam DuncanGlancy said: “The removal of the £20 uplift is a cruel decision, and it will leave single parents, carers and disabled people without the money they desperately need.

“The Tory government should reverse this unforgivable decision, and the Scottish Government must do more than just sit on its hands or point fingers. It has powers to mitigate this damaging move, and it must use them.”

Nina Ballantyne from Citizens Advice Scotland said: “The decision to cut Universal Credit will hit hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland – including people in work.”

Meanwhile, the Tory Government has admitted it has not assessed the impact of the cut.

The SNP asked the Department of Work and Pensions if any impact assessment had been carried out on the £20 removal.

They responded: “The Department has not completed an Impact Assessment of the removal of the UC temporary uplift as it was introduced as a temporary measure.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “The uplift to Universal Credit was always temporary. It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the toughest stages of the pandemic, and it has done so.”