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THE savage impact of welfare cuts was laid bare yesterday as Citizens Advice Scotland launched an emergency guide to surviving with NO food or money.

In an admission that harked back to the time of Charles Dickens, the charity said they were forced to produce the document after being swamped by pleas for help from people left destitute.

Many have resorted to taking out payday loans and are using food banks just to keep going.

The charity’s chief executive Margaret Lynch said they are approached every day by people who cannot afford even basic food supplies.

She said: “Across Scotland, families are being pushed into poverty by the double whammy of the ­recession and benefit cuts.

“The CAB see people every day who haven’t eaten, can’t afford to feed or heat themselves and are at risk of homelessness.

“In the past, the benefits system was a safety net for such people, to help them through those problems and make sure they didn’t fall into total crisis.

“With the UK Government’s welfare reforms, that safety net is no longer there. That’s why this survival guide is necessary.

“It shows how the CAB are a vital service to the community and a lifeline to those in need.”

The survival guide provides ­information about a range of schemes, organisations and charities who can provide money in a crisis.

There are details of how to claim crisis grants, community care grants, social work payments, budget loans and access the Scottish Welfare Fund.

It was drawn up by Stirling’s ­Citizens Advice Bureau after their social policy team looked into why more people were on the breadline and resorting to desperate measures such as taking out payday loans.

Margaret said the cases seen in Stirling are typical of the rest of the country.

She added: “Stirling CAB’s work in putting together this guide is an example of the excellent service they provide – even if the fact it is necessary is a disgrace.”

Other CAB offices across Scotland are seeing similar suffering and are expected to produce their own emergency guides soon.

­Stirling District CAB manager Craig Anderson said their research had found the growing crisis was caused by a combination of the recession and cuts to ­benefits.

He added: “The increase in the number of people coming to CAB with emergency situations – no money, no food, no power – has become a major problem in recent times and is rising sharply.

“It is indicative of a range of circumstances linked to the economic downturn and the reshaping of the welfare system.”

Housing and Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess, a former CAB manager, blamed the Tory-led Government’s welfare cuts.

She added: “The rising number of people in crisis because of these reforms is utterly deplorable.”

A spokeswoman for the UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions said: “Far from removing a safety net, our welfare reforms will improve the lives of some of the poorest families in our communities.

“The Universal Credit is ­simplifying the complex myriad of benefits and making three million people better off – 300,000 in Scotland. The Government are committed to fairness.”