MORE than half of people in Bridport accessing benefits through a new system have contacted an independent service for help.

Bridport Citizens Advice says that, while it’s still early days since the initial rollout of Universal Credit (UC), they have seen several ‘hardship cases’ and many people appear to be worse off.

Figures show that, as of January, there were 116 claimants at Bridport job centre. Citizens Advice said their records show they have helped 65 people with UC issues since December, when the controversial benefits overhaul was introduced in West Dorset.

The figures come after town councillors spoke out on the issue at a meeting in January, as reported by the Bridport News.

Concerns were raised that the system is confusing and that not everyone has access to a computer. The new system means those who wish to make a claim can only do so online before facing a six-week wait for their first payment.

Rovarn Wickremasinghe, manager of Citizens Advice Bridport and District, said there were a number of issues.

“We have experienced problems accessing the UC telephone helpline. Clients without emails and phones have had difficulty making online claims which ask you to enter these details.There is a loss of income _ many people

appear to be worse off under the UC system compared to previous benefit entitlements.

“And there is confusion about which benefits to claim – old style legacy benefits or UC: contribution based ESA & JSA has to be claimed via the UC helpline but some UC helpline advisers don’t know how to respond to these requests – some refer people back to claiming UC. We had to insist that they emailed clients an ESA or JSA claim form.”

Mr Wickremasinghe added: “We have seen some hardship cases. Claimants need to attend a verification interview at the jobcentre before they can claim an advance payment of benefit to help them during the waiting period and there is about a three week wait at the moment. Verification can be done online but only about 30 per cent of claims manage to be verified in this way. In the meantime we refer clients to the foodbank or give them an emergency food parcel.”

  • Citizens Advice in Dorset have been given funding from the Councils’ Stour Valley and Westwey partnerships for UC income maximisation posts and are running sessions in libraries across the county. In Bridport library the sessions will be held weekly on Tuesdays starting from April 3, from 10am to 12pm and the UC income maximisation worker will be available to help with making and managing UC claims.