DWP Strip £17m from Scottish Families

Scrap the Universal Credit 5-Week Wait

The SNP has called for the Labour UK Government to scrap the ‘5-week wait’ and introduce an Essentials Guarantee, as the Daily Record reveal the DWP clawed back £17m of debt deductions from Scottish families in one month. 

The so called ‘5-week wait’ relates to claimants paying back a Universal Credit advance after waiting 5 weeks for the social security payment. Claimants are offered an advance payment but this must be repaid, leaving recipients with less money to live on in subsequent months.

SallyAnn Kelly, Chief Executive of Aberlour, warned that the Labour Government “must scrap the five week wait for new Universal Credit claims, which causes public debt to accrue from the outset of claims in the form of future deductions and too often leads to a cycle of problem public debt that traps families in poverty”.

Last year a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimated that 2 in 5 families due to move onto Universal Credit were unable to meet basic living costs during the 5-week wait, with the period often extending beyond 5 weeks due to errors or complications with claims. 

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has also called for the introduction of an Essentials Guarantee, ensuring a minimum level of Universal Credit that would protect people from going without essentials and which debt deductions would not be allowed to reduce. The SNP Scottish Government has previously echoed these calls, urging the UK Government to urgently legislate to introduce an Essentials Guarantee.

The Labour Party has faced fierce criticism after promising ‘change’ before the General Election only to maintain the two-child benefit cap, slash disability benefits and scrap the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners.