The SNP has lambasted the Tories over their mismanagement of welfare, after figures showed that the number of Jobseekers’ Allowance claimants who have been underpaid has more than doubled in five years.

New analysis shows that the proportion of JSA claimants who have been underpaid due to official errors has risen from 0.8% to 2.1% since 2011/2012.

The SNP has cited these figures as further proof that Westminster is failing on welfare and reiterated demands for the full devolution of social security powers to the Scottish Parliament.

DWP HQ, Caxton House, London. Photo: Paul Billanie for Welfare Weekly.

Bob Doris MSP, Convener of Holyrood’s Social Security Committee, said: “These revelations expose just how deeply flawed the Tories’ welfare policies are.

“The implications of people not getting the payments they are owed in time could be very grave indeed. And the situation is getting worse under the Tories, not better.

“The grim reality is that the Tories are letting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the country down.”

A Jobcentre office. Photo credit: jovike via photopin cc

She added: “Mismanagement such as this is driving more and more people to schemes like the Scottish Welfare Fund and food banks.

“Scotland has already made its opposition to the Tory welfare system abundantly clear, and this is why we should have the full powers over social security here in Scotland – to build a system which puts fairness and dignity at its heart.”