Recommendation 116

We heard evidence of how the five week wait for Universal Credit and the associated advance payment system is causing a lot of difficulty for claimants in Scotland. Chris Birt of The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said it can ‘force people into destitution’292 whilst Polly Jones of The Trussell Trust highlight that the five week wait is a ‘huge driver of food bank use’.293 The Trussell Trust go on to explain this in their written evidence; according to their research the five week wait is ‘the most common problem’294 as to why Universal Credit claimants are referred to food banks.