Moray Council to debate Universal Credit £20 'cut'

Moray Council will debate whether to write a letter to Westminster calling for Universal Credit to continue at its current rate beyond October 6.

Councillor Paula Coy (Elgin North, SNP) has put forward a motion to Wednesday's meeting of the full council.

It states an estimated 3150 claimants in Moray who are set to lose the £20 per week top-up which was introduced from April 6 last year, shortly after the start of lockdown.

The motion says: "Due to the potential scale of the impact of the Universal Credit cut to Moray becoming clearer and the publication of the Citizens Advice Scotland report in the last week, the council urgently notes with concern the reduction of £20 per week for the estimated 3150 Universal Credit claimants in Moray will mean a loss of income of over £1000 per year for Moray’s most financially vulnerable families.

"As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has stated: ‘This will hit families on the lowest incomes and disproportionately affect families with children, particularly single parent families and families where someone is disabled.’

"Council further notes that as the cost of food, clothing and energy continues to rise this council must do all it can to protect Moray’s most financially vulnerable families.

"Council acknowledges the pressure this cut will have on local third sector organisations and council services like the Income Maximisation team and Welfare Benefits team.

"Council instructs the Leader to write to the UK Government, the MP for Moray and the Secretary of State for Scotland with urgency to add our voices to the calls from the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to rethink the plans to end the Universal Credit uplift on the 6th of October."

The motion has been seconded by Graham Leadbitter (Elgin South, SNP), who is the council's leader.

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