That the Parliament welcomes the publication of the East Lothian Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) report, Universal Credit in East Lothian: Impact on Client Income, which is based on a survey of the experience of 134 CAB clients; notes the report’s headline findings, which include that 52% of clients in East Lothian are worse off with only 31% gaining under universal credit, while clients’ median gain is only 34p per week, compared to a median loss of £44.72 per week, and that the clients most adversely affected are lone parents and disabled claimants; further notes that the majority of clients (79%) who have lost out, experienced a financial reduction of more than 10%, while among those who have gained, almost two thirds (63%) have experienced a financial increase of less than 1%; believes that these findings further underline the failings in the way that universal credit has been implemented and the damaging impact that it is having on many claimants, including driving families into debt and poverty; supports the call for the roll-out of universal credit to be halted until the problems in the current system have been addressed, and thanks the staff at Citizens Advice Bureaux in East Lothian and across the country for the vital support that they provide to some of the most vulnerable people in Scotland's communities.
Supported by:
Clare Adamson, Jackie Baillie, Alex Cole-Hamilton, Neil Findlay, Christine Grahame, Alison Johnstone, Ruth Maguire, Alex Rowley, Colin Smyth, Maree Todd