POOR FAMILIES HIT BY AN £11M ‘POVERTY TAX’

DWP told to deal with its own errors

- CHRIS McCALL

BENEFIT claimants on Universal Credit are losing out on millions of pounds every month because of a deduction system branded a "poverty tax".

Official figures show 189,000 households had an average of £60 deducted from their social security payments in just one month this year more than £11 million in total.

The deductions are generally used to repay a DWP loan given to new users to cover the five-week waiting period before a first Universal Credit payment is made.

Cash is also taken from claimants if they receive an overpayment as a result of a DWP error.