AN SNP MP has urged the Prime Minister to hear at first hand the “horrifying” stories of benefits claimants left struggling as a result of the roll-out of Universal Credit in Scotland.

Drew Hendry said a pilot of the single monthly payment in his constituency of Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey had been “nothing short of a disaster” and a “personal catastrophe” for many.

He has written to Theresa May to invite her to attend a summit in Inverness next month to hear from constituents directly affected by the “botched” roll-out.

Hendry said these included a woman named Abbey whose payments were stopped when she went on maternity leave, leaving her owing £2000 in rent arrears and surviving on food vouchers during the four months it took to fix the error. Another constituent, a single mother-of-two with cancer named Leanne, waited six weeks for payment only for the amount to be more than £500 short.

“Shamefully, the DWP then demanded she attended a work capability assessment – against the advice of her furious GP,” Hendry’s letter said.

Another expectant mother named Rachael waited for payment from Christmas until April as the result of a mistake, leaving her close to being evicted for over £1500 of housing arrears. She was then asked to make a round trip of 200 miles from Inverness to Aberdeen to sort out the problem.

The MP said that in a further case a constituent named John was evicted from his home due to months without payment. Hendry said more than 60 per cent of his constituent caseload was related to Universal Credit, with his office alone dealing with more than 200 cases.

“Many of these people have come to me as a last resort, when they have nowhere left to turn, having already waited months for payment,” he wrote.

“Rent arrears, first-time debt, evictions, long delays to payments, short payments, lost sick notes, misplaced documents, failure to respond, con-fusion between departments, crushed morale of Jobcentre staff and an inability to respond to common sense are rife.”

Commenting on the letter, the MP added: “I want the Prime Minister to hear from my constituents, local authority staff, and the third sector and to work with us to stop this awful mess.

“On a daily basis now I hear utterly horrifying stories of financial hardships, evictions and personal humiliation. The roll-out of universal credit has been nothing short of a disaster – and for those it has failed it has been a personal catastrophe.

“I have consistently urged the UK Government to act on the mountain of evidence, including from their own agencies and delivery partners, on the harm this shambles is causing.

“It isn’t working. It never has. The Tories know it and they must halt it now.

“Theresa May or any of her ministers should really come and hear the testimony from those suffering because of Universal Credit.’’

Last week, May was told to halt the roll out of Universal Credit amid a series of cases where people had been left without any payments and been forced to rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families.

Universal Credit involves rolling six means-tested working-age benefits – Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credits, Income Support, Working Tax Credits and Employment and Support Allowance – into one payment. But there have been problems in the changeover and claimants have been forced to phone a helpline costing 55p a minute to try to get their problems sorted out.