THE number of people needing the support of Universal Credit has increased by nearly 100 per cent in the year since the pandemic hit.
Helensburgh Jobcentre figures showed a rise from 677 people to 1,314 people between March 2020 and February 2021.
The 94.1 per cent increase was mirrored in other nearby centres, with Dumbarton seeing a 101 per cent from rise from February 2020 to this year.
Although lockdown restrictions are now slowly easing, the latest figures show men have been hit harder in the past year, with a rise in UC claimants by 108.8 per cent. Women getting the benefit increased by 82.8 per cent.
MP Brendan O’Hara told the Advertiser: “These figures are very distressing, as behind every one of these statistics there is an individual or a family in need.
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“In the middle of a global pandemic and with people losing their jobs, the UK Government’s priority should have been the welfare of its most vulnerable citizens; ensuring that those who lost their jobs were adequately supported, that no-one was excluded and that the benefit system was fit for purpose. Unfortunately, none of this happened.
“Even before the pandemic hit, hundreds of families across Helensburgh and Lomond were already struggling with debt and increasingly having to access local food banks, just to make ends meet. The situation is now far worse.
“If the Tories cared about people in need then they’d listen to what the SNP and others have been saying and turn advance payment loans into grants, abolish the five-week wait for Universal Credit and for the UC uplift to be made permanent and extended to legacy benefits.”
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said of the figures last month: “These figures show the scale of the challenge we face to rebuild our economy - and throws into sharp relief just how irresponsible it is of the Scottish Government to prioritise planning for an independence referendum over securing our economic recovery.
"We need to focus on creating and protecting jobs.”
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