THE SCOTTISH Government “will not stop” in its attempt to halt the roll out of Universal Credit and the ease the hardship it’s causing, according to Cabinet Secretary for Social Security Shirley-Anne Somerville.

Somerville made the pledge following the launch of Scotland’s new welfare agency which started making its first payments – a top up payment for carers – last week, which was hailed as a “historic moment” for devolution.

READ MORE: Scottish carer hails top-up payments as 'really positive first step'

Social Security Scotland will have responsibility for 11 benefits, including Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments (PIP) maternity grants and winter fuel payment. But responsibility for Universal Credit, a single payment replacing job seekers allowance, tax credits, housing and other benefits paid to both those in and out of work, will remain with Westminster.

Universal Credit has been widely condemned, with cabinet papers reportedly showing that one in six new universal credit claimants are not being paid on time. Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, called for Universal Credit to be scrapped due to the “intense suffering” that its caused.

Support agencies report delays of five weeks in initial payments being made which, along to lower rates of benefits, have led to rocketing numbers of food bank referrals and rent arrears.

Speaking to the Sunday National, Somerville revealed that a letter she wrote to Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Esther McVey calling for the halt of the Universal Credit roll-out in Scotland on August 20 is still unanswered. Yet the benefit will continue its roll-out in a number of Glasgow constituencies this week.

She said she again raised the concerns, laid out in her letter, of “material increases of poverty, hardship and destitution” in a meeting with McVey last week. But she said the UK Government was “blinded by dogma” about its welfare policy, but insisted she would continue to push the case that the policy was not working.

“It’s deeply depressing that the evidence is out there and [the UK Government] refuses to recognise it,” she said. “We are already seeing the damage in the Highlands, with high level of rent arrears and food bank referrals up there. Now we will see that in our major cities.”

“It’s directly leading to cases I’ve heard of recently where people are not eating for days because they are being sanctioned, or unable to fill in a UC form because they need a computer, an email and a mobile. People are literally going without food because of a failed policy. It is quite frankly staggering that in 21st century Scotland we are still in a place where people are unable to eat because of a UK policy.”

She claimed that the Scottish Government would aim to make the case for all benefit payments to be made by the devolved agency within time. Currently it only has the power to administer 15% of them by 2021.

Meanwhile, she claimed it aimed to mitigate the suffering caused by UK policy by increasing Scottish Welfare Fund payments and discretionary housing payments.

One next step will to be to push the case for the UK Government to delay to roll-out of the benefit to Glasgow’s Shettleston, Drumchapel and Castlemilk, some of Scotland’s most materially deprived areas this December, potentially leaving people destitute over Christmas.

Promising to act on the call by One Parent Families Scotland, she said if McVey would not stop the roll-out she must rethink the timetable.

Marion Davis, policy manager of One Parent Families, said single parents were amongst those who would suffer the most. It is estimated that those in work could lose up to £2000 a year because no work allowance was factored in. Others stand to lose hundreds.

“There are many barriers for people,” she said, claiming many did not have photo ID – such as a passport or driver’s licence – or a laptop and mobile phone, or the resources to buy them, though they were needed to make a Universal Credit application.

“Single parent families both in and out of work are already on very low incomes. Any changes to their benefits leave them with a major gap.”

John Dickie, director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, claimed there was “no question” that Universal Credit was causing “real hardship” to families across Scotland.

He said. “This should be totally unacceptable in a rich 21st century nation. It’s time to pause the roll out of UC, fix its flaws and make it fit for families.”

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions denied the issue was raised at the meeting where Somerville and McVey were present last week. He added: “The best way to help people to improve their lives is to support them into work and Universal Credit is helping people move into work faster and stay in work longer than the old system.

“Scotland has significant powers over social security to both raise taxes and top up any reserved benefits, devolved through the Scotland Act.”