The stark figures behind the cost of living crisis in West Lothian were revealed as rent arrears reached almost £1 million in two areas alone.
Across the county rent arrears are just shy of £5 million while arrears in Whitburn and Blackburn have surged by more than £110,000 since July.
Graeme McKee, a housing manager, said the overall increased arrears is a result of Universal Credit being introduced in West Lothian from May 2018, along with other welfare benefit reforms and the current economic climate.
Mr McKee said: “Small debt cases, £300 or less, account for 47.6 per cent of households. There are 245 serious arrears cases of more than £1000 in arrears. These cases are 17.7 per cent of all households in arrears in this area, containing 63.6 per cent of the debt.”
Answering a question from Councillor Dickson, Mr McKee said that arrears of £300 represented six to eight weeks of unpaid rent.
Councillor Dickson asked for details on how Housing staff managed debt. A series of contacts are made with tenants including by letter and text messages. There are also offers of help from other council services such as the Advice Shops.
Chris Nelson from the Anti-Poverty Service stressed that his teams were able to work with tenants to confront debt and other issues.
He told the committee that it had managed more than £700,000 worth of debt in the Whitburn ward in the last year. In his report he outlined that thousands of enquiries had been dealt with .
“The Advice Shop has helped 2,124 customers to manage their money and to resolve benefit problems within the Whitburn and Blackburn ward. This resulted in 25,952 additional enquiries and contacts from these customers.”
Mr Nelson added: “Feedback shows this has a positive impact on individuals by increasing knowledge and understanding and ultimately improving the customer journey and empowering customers.
"The Advice Shop generated £4,033,838 in extra income and successfully managed £717,042 in debt within the Whitburn and Blackburn ward.”
He continued: “We’ve already seen significant increases and significantly more complex cases. I would expect that into the new year we well expect that we’d see a significant increases but I wouldn’t like to put a number on it.”
Don't miss the latest news from the West Lothian Courier. Sign up to our free newsletter here
