Council leader calls for halt to roll-out of new benefits system
Cllr insists it plunges families into financial crisis
The leader of South Lanarkshire Council has called for a halt to the roll-out of a controversial welfare reform, saying it is plunging families into financial crisis.
Councillor John Ross made the demand after hearing evidence of the impact of Universal Credit, which is designed to simplify social security by replacing up to six benefits with a single payment for recipients.
Universal Credit has started in a number of places across Scotland, including South Lanarkshire, and the Department of Work and Pensions intend to roll it out until 2022, by which time an estimated 652,500 Scottish households will claim it.
However, Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has reported evidence from initial roll-out areas which they say shows Universal Credit has pushed families into debt and left many struggling with their finances.
Cllr Ross this week backed the CAS call for the roll-out of the reform to be delayed.
He said: “The aim may have been to make the system less complicated but it is clear that in reality Universal Credit is currently making life worse for many families.
“The CAS evidence is backed up by personal stories I have heard myself, and I am sure every councillor in affected parts of Scotland will have been approached by constituents who find themselves in financial crisis and unable to make ends meet.
“Just one bizarre aspect is that people claiming the benefit are finding the process so complicated that they are using up precious time on it when they could be looking for work and starting the process of getting off benefits.
“Given these circumstances it is imperative that the further roll-out of Universal Credit is halted while efforts are made to make the system easier to understand, provide more support to claimants and, most importantly, speed up payments.”
As part of the national roll-out, Universal Credit was introduced in South Lanarkshire in October 2015, the first large authority with significant urban areas to be included.
The next stage of the national roll-out will begin on October 4.
Support is provided to council tenants affected by welfare reform by Housing Services, and support and assistance is provided to residents in partnership with a range of council services, particularly the Benefit and Revenue Service and the Money Matters Advice Service.
A report to the council’s Housing and Technical Resources Committee on August 9 noted that since October 2015 an average of 50 tenants had made a claim every month.
The report noted: “Experience to date, of UC within South Lanarkshire has been one which has been characterised by continuing issues.
“Notable examples of the type of problem which have arisen and persisted include customers encountering significant delays in receiving payment, the wrong or no payment being made to housing costs and an inability to contact the UC processing centre to resolve issues on behalf of customers.” At the end of June 2017, 728 council tenants were in receipt of UC.
The impact on rent arrears under UC is already significant, despite extensive resources being deployed in supporting tenants and minimising the impact of UC payment errors and delays.
At June 30, 633 (87 per cent) Council tenants on UC were in arrears. The total rent arrears relating to this group was £525,000 of which £177,000 had accumulated since the commencement of households’ UC claim.
The proportion of rent collected from households in receipt of UC equates to 78 per cent of rent due.