A LEADING homeless charity in Glasgow has called for the DWP to fix an irregularity in its welfare system which is needlessly causing some of the city’s most vulnerable to suffer.

Glasgow’s homeless service is under major threat as it was found people without a home and seeking help from the DWP have been filling out forms for the wrong welfare by mistake.

Instead of applying for housing benefit people have been applying for universal credit which has resulted in temporary accommodation for homeless people going in to arrears.

Currently, the cost for a week’s rent in temporary accommodation in Glasgow is £184.20.

But those who fill out the forms for universal credit only receive £134 a week.

It was revealed the annual shortfall in rental payments towards homeless accommodation is just over £1.5million as claimants apply for housing benefit which comes to £166.60 per week.

But the report from the council’s chief officer of the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership also predicted the annual shortfall will almost triple to £4.4million when the switch is made to universal credit.

The threat to the services has left the chief executive of Glasgow’s City Mission “deeply concerned” about what this means for some of the most vulnerable people in the city.

Grant Campbell of City Mission said: “Sadly this appears to be yet another example of a system designed to trip people up and penalise society’s most vulnerable.

“These further cuts to the welfare budget for Glasgow will have a severely negative impact on people affected by homelessness and poverty and ultimately cost society more money in the long term by placing additional pressures on housing, healthcare and other vital social services.

“We call on the DWP to resolve this system's anomaly as soon as possible so that it does not create further difficulties for those who are already deeply disadvantaged and struggle to navigate this highly complex process of receiving what, legally, they are entitled to.”

Universal Credit was partially introduced in Glasgow’s single claimants in June 2015.

The full roll-out of the the welfare reform is planned to commence in the city in September 2018 with remaining claimants of housing benefit to be moved to the new monthly payment by 2022.

Glasgow City Council have since acted to reduce the cost of temporary accommodation to align with the maximum amount of housing benefits an individual can receive.

The council’s executive committee agreed to reduced the weekly charge to £135.17 - a reduction of nearly 25 per cent.

This change was brought in at the beginning of April this year.

In an attempt to eliminate the budget shortfall in 2017/18, the council has saved £1million within the homelessness service and provided an additional £2million.