East Lothian was the first Scottish local authority to implement Universal Credit full service. In January 2017, Musselburgh and Haddington Citizens Advice Bureaux conducted a two week 'snap shot' survey of their clients enabling them to calculate their benefit entitlements under Universal Credit in comparison to the six legacy, working age benefits it replaces.
The research found that 52% of the 134 clients would lose under Universal Credit, with a median loss of £44.72 per week. This is in comparison to the 31% of clients who would gain under the new system, with a median gain of £0.34 per week. The research shows that if all 134 respondents claimed Universal Credit rather than legacy benefits at the end of January 2017 there would be a net reduction of £2,923.55 per week paid out to claimants. Please download the executive summary and the full report which was launched on 29 September 2017.
Please see the videos below from the launch event which include Sarah Baldry discussing the key results from the research, Tonya Moncrieff from East Lothian Council sharing the findings from their own piece of research into customer experience of Universal Credit and the final comments from East Lothian MP Martin Whitfield.
