Latest Press Releases
| MORAY MP CONDEMNS TORIES’ CRUEL CRISIS CUTS |
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| Thursday, 31 March 2011 00:00 |
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Moray SNP MP, Angus Robertson, has hit out at the Tories ‘cruel cuts’ after SNP parliamentary questions revealed how UK Government cuts to the level and availability of Social Fund Crisis Loans would impact on hundreds of thousands of disabled, pensioner and loan parent households.
The parliamentary questions – detailed below – also revealed that 347,270 people in Scotland took out the crisis loan over the last year. From the Inverness Benefit Delivery Centre alone 107,780 awards were made. The UK Government announced that it will no longer pay Crisis Loans for items such as cookers and beds; the rate paid for living expenses will be cut from 75 per cent down to 60 per cent of benefit rate; and the UK government will implement a cap of three Crisis Loan awards for general living expenses in a rolling twelve month period. In the last 12 months alone, over 17,000 people received ten or more Crisis Loans. Commenting the SNP’s Angus Robertson said: “ Cutting crisis loans is a cruel cut by the Tories. The vast majority of people applying for Crisis Loans are vulnerable households in seriously difficult circumstances. “ Parliamentary questions have also revealed that of over 2.5 million Crisis Loans just 6,600 loans were written off, less than 0.3% of the total, demonstrating quite clearly that the vast majority are repaid. “ The UK Government admit that, over the last year alone, these loans have gone to hundreds of thousands of disabled, pensioner and loan parent households. By their nature crisis loans are a last resort, and so cutting their availability will cause real hardship and drive people towards loan sharks and high interest lenders. “ Clearly at a time of economic hardship Crisis Loans are critical to more people than in good financial times. This cut in loans hits the wrong people at the wrong time and should not be happening. “ Given these are loans that people pay back, the cuts are clearly not about saving money.” |
