More than 30,000 social housing tenants who claim Universal Credit are in rent arrears.
Some tenants are as much as £5600 behind with payments. The scale of the financial mess was exposed in figures showing the impact of UK welfare reform.
The new system combines six old benefits and was designed to simplify the payments.
But the way it was implemented has been blamed for cutting income, pushing people into debt and forcing more claimants to food banks.
In total, 30,073 UC claimants in local authority housing were in rent arrears across 21 of Scotland’s 32 councils at the end of January. Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine, who obtained the figures, said: “Universal credit has been a universal failure. It has helped push thousands more people into rent arrears.”
Working Scots on Universal Credit will get £630 extra from tomorrow
A report published by independent researchers at the Scottish Parliament warned the scandal will get worse without expensive policy interventions. Researchers said the most effective policy would be to change the child-related elements of the benefit at a cost of £800million.
The UK Government would have to remove the controversial two-child limit and the hated “rape clause” for women whose subsequent child was conceived through rape.
They would also have to increase the child element of UC by 80 per cent to £417 and re-introduce a £545 family element. The measures would reduce relative child poverty to 22 per cent by 2024 – short of the 18 per cent target.
The SNP’s George Adam said UC had been “an unmitigated disaster”.
The DWP say they are making UC more flexible on behalf of the Scottish Government and stress Holyrood has the power to create new benefits.
