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A desperate Universal Credit claimant said he was left too poor to afford a shower after having just £130-a-month to live on.

He said he was forced to turn to crime - and knew "loads of people in the same situation" - because he could not afford basics like soap and shave gel.

The claimant said he turned to shoplifting after plunging into the red with his bank - leaving him in a "deep depression".

He contacted BirminghamLive to tell his story, but we have chosen not to name him.

The man said he received £213 for a calendar month of nearly five weeks after quitting his job for personal reasons and moving in with his mother following mental health problems.

He said he could not claim housing benefit because he lived with a working parent and was left with £133 after paying his mum £80 towards her bills.

The claimant said: "Taking into account that I had to get phone credit, buses here and there and then five weeks' worth of shopping, all of that with £130 just isn't possible.

"I sank into a deep depression on top of my mental breakdown. I knew I'd run out of food before being paid again, I had nothing left so was stuck at home for weeks.

"I felt like I didn't want to wake up anymore.

"My next payment was the same amount so, after the measly bit I had left ran out, I then had to pay for buses on my bank card - which meant I was overdrawn £27 by my next payday.

"I got £190 so I had to start shoplifting to get by and I was then resorting to stealing food to eat.

"When I needed things I couldn't steal, I sold some of the stuff I had taken just to make up a few quid.

(Image: Jerome Ellerby)

"I got caught in the end and, even after the judge heard why I had thieved, I still got a fine to be taken out of my benefit.

"So I then started to steal a lot, I just didn't care and I wasn't going to feel hungry all the time and not be able to shower with soap or shave - the basic chores of everyday life I was struggling to do.

"I know loads of people in the same situation who are now stealing to make it through the month.

"Theft has gone up so much since this ridiculous and backward system that, if you get caught in most shops with stolen items and the shop value comes to less than £100, the police don't even come out nine times (out of ten).

"Universal Credit is ridiculous, criminal and making people's lives who claim it, stressful, depressing and downright miserable.

"They need to scrap it as it clearly just isn't working."

Universal Credit replaces six benefits - Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseekser's Allowance and Working Tax Credit.

It was designed to make benefits claims simpler.

But it has created a storm of protest from some who claim they have been left on the breadline by the changes.

The National Audit Office, which oversees government spending, said the programme was "driven by an ambitious timescale" and had suffered from "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance".

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said previously: "Universal Credit helps people into work faster than the old system and provides targeted support.

"Around one million disabled households will gain an average of £100 more a month, and changes to work allowances mean 2.4 million households will be up to £630 per year better off."