Universal Credit is fuelling a mountain of debt which West Lothian Council will eventually have to write-off, a senior Labour councillor warned this week as it was revealed rent arrears in one ward had surged by more than £100,000 in a year.
And the pattern will be repeated across Scotland, a newly elected SNP councillor warned at the same meeting.
Whitburn and Blackburn Local Area Committee (LAC) heard that rent arrears had risen by £114,000 in the ward in the last year. The figure for the ward now stands at £700, 249.
