Universal Credit warning as £20 cut could see 1.5 million claimants struggle this winter

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued new guidance for any benefits claimants asked to attend a Work Capability Assessment, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and Personal Independence Payment consultation in-person.

Scots looking for work face relying on the UK Government's "measly" benefits system which is the least generous in northern Europe, it's been claimed.

The £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit, which was introduced last March in response to the coronavirus pandemic, was scrapped on October 6 in a move that will affect thousands of people across Scotland and nearly 5.9 million across the UK in total - some 5.2 million households.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack ignored a plea to meet one of the country’s top anti-poverty groups to discuss the cuts to Universal Credit.

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More than 20,000 children across Scotland will be plunged into poverty because of the UK Government's "shameful" decision to cut Universal Credit, campaigners have warned.

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Universal Credit, announced last year at the start of the pandemic, began winding down towards the end of September and will finally come to an end this week while the Tories gather for their annual conference in Manchester. The move has been widely condemned by charities and opposition parties and Johnson faces pressure from many Conservative MPs deeply concerned about the impact on low-income families.

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iOS - Android Wishaw MSP Clare Adamson said: “People are struggling even with the uplift. Yet the Scottish Tories have the temerity to defend this abominable cut."They are failing in a basic duty as MSPs to advocate for our most vulnerable constituents.

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Labour ’s Secretary of State for Child Poverty, slammed the Tory government decision to claw back the lockdown rise in Universal Credit in a speech that made him the darling of the Labour conference. Streeting, 38, recovered from kidney cancer this year to come back to Labour’s front bench as the arrowhead of a campaign against child poverty.

Alexander Stewart said he had "real sympathy" with comments made last week by Ruth Davidson, who claimed the reduction in the benefit was the “wrong thing to do”. The £20 uplift to the all-in-one benefit was a temporary measure to help poorer families during the pandemic and is due to come to an end from October 6 in a move that has sparked fury among anti-poverty campaigners.

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benefits claimants say their current pay-out is barely enough to cover the bills, with circumstances set to get worse as government removes the Covid-19 uplift next month. Almost six million people rely on Universal Credit in the UK, and as of October they will be receiving £20 less per week when the change is made.Mum-of-five Shannon Brown says she will likely face debt as a result of the cut.

Universal Credit on people’s lives. Officials said the information does not exist as the uplift was only “temporary”.