UNIVERSAL Credit is trapping people in debt as they perpetually rob Peter to pay Paul according to Citizens Advice Scotland.

The organisation told MPs at Holyrood that since the benefit, which was rolled out to Jobcentres in Glasgow between September and December last year, was introduced rent arrears have rocketed.

Almost three out of four tenants on the controversial new benefit are in rent arrears according to information coming to the network of Citizens Advice Bureaux.

In evidence to the Social Security Committee, CAS said to pay off rent arrears tenants are going into debt in various other forms.

A statement from CAS said: “The most common reasons for rent arrears are a benefits-related issue, loss of income, or unexpected costs.

“The most common ways of getting out of rent arrears are borrowing money from elsewhere such as from friends and family, or on a credit card or cutting back on essentials. Neither of these are particularly sustainable solutions, leading to debt elsewhere or potential health consequences respectively.”

It said arrears were higher among Universal Credit recipients than the population in general.

It added: “During the past eighteen months, CAB clients’ rent arrears issues have predominantly been caused by them moving onto Universal Credit, and experiencing problems with the delivery of support to pay the rent through the new benefit.”

It was also noted that many private landlords, because of increasing rent arrears, are barring benefit claimants from renting homes leading to people forced to pay higher rents with those landlords who do.

The CAB added: “With a total of 157,806 applicants on waiting lists for local authority housing in Scotland, it is not possible to accommodate all people in receipt of housing benefit in social housing, so it needs to be possible for the private rented sector to be an affordable option for people on the lowest income too.”

MSPs were told of one cases of a west of Scotland council tenant outside Glasgow served with a court eviction order for arrears of £420 which he ran up after applying for universal credit after he was made redundant.

The council has also applied to take 20% of his benefit to cover arrears.

CAS Scotland said that Discretionary Housing Payments should be used to help people with rent arrears caused by Universal Credit.