Shelter Scotland Response to the Social Security Committee’s Call for Views on In-Work Poverty

Last year, more people than ever before came to us for help and affordability was the most common issue we were approached about, and we anticipate this trend to continue if issues highlighted during the roll-out of earlier stages of Universal Credit are not dealt with. This is a sure sign of the safety net failing if it cannot keep people out of poverty.

According to the most recent Scottish Government statistics, there were around 350,000 households with at least one adult in work who were classified as being in poverty after housing costs, and this figure is the highest in four years. In our experience, someone experiencing inwork poverty is more likely to accumulate rent arrears and risk eviction and subsequent homelessness through no fault of their own. The person may then be faced with the high cost of temporary accommodation, which can push them more into debt. However, this fate is avoidable if the social security system is set up to properly support those on low and uncertain wages. UC is intended to support people back into work and make work pay but our client experiences indicate that there is much to improve before it can be regarded as doing so.