Rollout of new Universal Credit benefits ‘has driven 150,000 Brits to claim handouts from food banks’
THE rollout of Universal Credit has led to more people turning to food banks to make ends meet, a new report says.
The Trussell Trust said it had seen a 13 per cent jump in people coming to them to get emergency food parcels in the last year - an increase of around 150,000 people.
And in areas which already have had food banks in place for at least a year, demand had gone up by 51 per cent.
The charity gave out a whopping 1.3million packages last year, and a third of them went to kids.
It said people who were waiting to get payments, and administrative problems pushed them into debt and caused them to fall behind on their rent.
Trussell Trust has 428 centres across the UK, and delivers emergency supplies for three days of food.
Using one requires a referral from a job centre, GP or housing association - and people can't just turn up to get it.
Bosses claimed that more than a quarter of all referrals were going to them because people's benefits were not covering the cost of essentials, and around the same number of people said they had been forced to come because of delays to their benefit payments.
"For too many people, staying above water is a daily struggle,” said Emma Revie, the Trust’s chief executive.
"It’s completely unacceptable that anyone is forced to turn to a food bank as a result."
Universal Credit is replacing six other types of benefits including child tax credits and income support, and is being rolled out across the country.
It aims to make the process easier and simpler and help low-income families into work easier.
But ministers have already been forced to change the time that people need to wait to get their first payments from six weeks down to five after a public outcry.
And payments for Brits on housing benefit are also set to see their payments go from fortnightly to monthly.
Ministers have also frozen benefits until 2020 - and as inflation is still at 2.5 per cent means the money received will be worth less and less.
Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood said: "The scale of food bank use under the Tories is a national shame and the findings in this report are shocking.
"Interviewees raised poor administration of Universal Credit again and again.
"Some people are still facing extremely long waits for an initial payment, pushing people into debt and arrears, with serious impacts on the health of many."
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And low income families could be just £4 a week better off due to the changes, new research has suggested.
A DWP spokesman said: “The reasons why people use food banks are complex, so it’s wrong to link a rise to any one cause.”
They said "Universal Credit is working for the vast majority who claim it" and said the research "was also carried out before our significant improvements to Universal Credit came into effect at the Budget, such as 100 per cent advances, which support people before their first payment."
