Fears more people in Lancashire will be forced to turn to loan sharks as Universal Credit uplift ends

There are fears more people in Lancashire will be forced to turn to loan sharks as families wake up to a £1000 a year cut to their Universal Credit.

Yesterday, the £20 a week uplift to the benefit officially came to an end.

Figures from the Department for work and Pensions show over 100,000 households in Lancashire were on Universal Credit last May.

The charity Crime Stoppers has issued a warning some families could turn to illegal lenders to put food on the table.

Gary Murray, head of Crimestoppers in the North West, said: "Post-covid, as people see National Insurance going up and they also see the uplift in Universal Credit coming to an end, there is a danger that more people will feel that they have no alternative but to get a loan from loan sharks to just pay bills.

"It could be that they need as little as £5 to buy some food for themselves or their children. It'll be a cash loan, there won't be any paper work, there'll be a very high interest rate on that loan so somebody might get £10 from a loan shark but they might be expected, in two weeks' time to pay £30 back.

Gary had this warning for anyone thinking of taking out a dodgy loan: "Be very wary that you're getting into an arrangement that can be very difficult to get out of, that interest can escalate week by week and at the end of that period if you can't pay off the loan, you can be threatened with violence and you can be asked to carry out criminal activities."