SNP MP calls for Universal Credit loans to be turned into grants as scathing benefits report issued
MPs.The powerful Commons Work and Pensions Committee has recommend first-time claimants should receive a simple grant payment to ensure they can afford basics during the five-week wait for an initial payment.The present system gives advance payments to tide claimants over but these must be repaid, meaning they risk being pushed into debt.The new grant payment, equivalent to three weeks of the standard allowance, would be a simple way to ensure claimants can afford basic living essentials, the MPs said.Chris Stephens MP, the SNP member of the committee, said the report vindicated anti-poverty campaigners who have long argued that UC loans sholuld be turned into grants.He said: “This report calls on the UK government to do what the SNP have