A MUM claims she is surviving on just two meals a week after her Universal Credit was slashed.
River Olivia Rose from Leeds says she is struggling to live off £143 this month as deductions have scaled back her allowance.
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The 41-year-old claim she can often only afford two meals a week and has lost so much weight she can now fit into children’s clothes.
She has had to go to a food bank and borrow money from friends and family who are also strapped for cash.
The charity volunteer has been claiming Universal Credit for 18 months but luckily has a new job lined up in a few months.
Until then River is meant to receive £324.84 per month – but has never got this full amount due to deductions.
Instead she’s receives an amount that changes every month somewhere between £90 and £260.
River claims her Universal Credit allowance has been scaled back because of money she owes.
She took an advance loan to cover the five-week wait before her first payment and has child tax credit overpayments that cut down her cash too.
River also had to pay off a fine she got for sleeping in her car while she was homeless.
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Universal Credit was designed to replace six previous benefits – a move to help encourage people to find work.
But the Department of Work and Pensions can automatically deduct money from your allowance to pay off your debts owed to the government.
Claimants can also face deductions if they repeatedly fail to meet the Department of Work and Pensions requirements – for example, by showing up late for Job Centre appointments or refusing to look for work.
River told The Mirror: “Deductions don’t help me find a job, and really impacts on my mental health.
“I walk everywhere because I can’t afford travel costs, I’m exhausted.”
On Wednesday, she walked two hours to get to a library to pick up sanitary towels because she cannot afford to buy them.
She added: “The DWP claim I owe £3,000 altogether, but I have no idea where they have obtained this information from.
“I’ve queried it so many times, but have been told they cannot discuss it over the phone.
“The deductions just show up on my online journal statement.
“I know I have a job coming but I am scared. I am hugely worried about where this cost of living crisis is going.”
The Department for Work and Pensions said the majority of overpayments arise because claimants are late in reporting a change of circumstance.
It insisted anyone unable to afford the rate of recovery proposed should contact the DWP so an affordable rate of repayment can be negotiated.
A Government spokesperson said: “We carefully balance our support for claimants with our duty to protect taxpayers money so we have further reduced the cap on Universal Credit deductions and paused the Fuel Direct scheme, that allows energy bill payments to be taken directly from benefits.
“Safeguards are in place to ensure deductions are manageable and customers can contact DWP to discuss their repayments if they are experiencing financial hardship.
“We know work is the best route out of poverty so we’re putting an average of £1,000 more per year into the pockets of working families on Universal Credit and have also boosted the minimum wage by more than £1,000 a year for full-time workers.”
