EAST Renfrewshire Council has set aside £600,000 to deal with the fall-out from the looming “disaster” of Universal Credit.

The UK Government’s controversial benefits reform, which has been delayed multiple times, is now due to be rolled out nationwide by the end of the year.

The new system combines six payments into one and was designed to simplify the system and slash billions from the benefits bill.

However, claimants typically have to wait five weeks before receiving their first payments and housing costs are paid to them, rather than their landlords, which has seen people struggling to budget, falling into arrears on their rent and ending up at risk of homelessness.

It was originally anticipated that full rollout would take place in East Renfrewshire in early-mid 2017, but there have been considerable national delays.

The DWP has advised the rollout will now take place in the region in the week beginning September 26. This means all new applicants and those who report a chance of circumstance will be paid Universal Credit from the end of September, while the transfer of people on existing benefits or tax credits will begin in July next year.

While the number of people affected is hard to predict, the council has said as many as 12,000 claimants in East Renfrewshire could be moved to Universal Credit over the next four years.

At last week’s cabinet meeting, members were asked to note that £200,000 of welfare contingency funding has been made available for each of the next three years, approve £69,251 for the Money Advice and Rights Team and approve £41,320 for the Scottish Welfare Fund, all to help mitigate the impact for local residents.

Louise Pringle, head of business change and revenues, said a spike in applications for discretionary housing payments is expected when the reforms are introduced and that a range of advice, as well as financial assistance, will be required to guide residents through the change.

She said: “We have made the assumption that rent arrears will increase. We may need to increase staffing to have more face-to-face meetings to get people to pay their rent as a matter of priority. If we don’t establish that from day one, it can be difficult.”

Council leader Tony Buchanan added: “We know the impact this will have on many people and our goal is to help mitigate this disaster. We’ve seen what has happened in other areas where this has been rolled out and that puts us in a slightly better position but it’s certainly not going to be easy.”