28 April 2017
CPAG Scotland publish report on Universal Credit full service roll-out
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland have published a report about Universal Credit Full Service roll-out. The report is based on findings from the CPAG Early Warning System cases and calls for the next UK Government, the Scottish Government and local authorities to implement the recommended solutions. The Early Warning System was developed by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland to collect and analyse case evidence about how social security changes are affecting the wellbeing of children, their families and the communities and services that support them. To date they have collect over 3000 case studies.
The report states that evidence gathered suggests that the roll out of Universal Credit full service has left many claimants in financial hardship and claimants have experienced problems such as:
- difficulty making claims for UC, with many online claims seeming to 'disappear'
- UC being underpaid because 'real time information' provided by HMRC regarding income is not always reliable or accurate
- claimants being paid the wrong amount of UC for no apparent reason. This appears most common in relation to housing costs and has resulted in some claimants facing eviction
- difficulty claiming contributory benefits that should be available alongside UC.
The report also identifies new rules and policies relating to the administration of UC that are also causing difficulties.
The full report is available on the CPAG website.