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A Liverpool man has told how problems with his Universal Credit benefit payments meant his wife turned to prostitution to support them.

The man - who has asked not to be named to protect his and his wife's identity - said the gut-wrenching decision left him feeling suicidal, but blamed the delays of switching over to the controversial new benefit system for pushing his family to the brink.

The 31-year-old, who we will call James for the purpose of this report is originally from Wavertree, and was living in another part of Liverpool when he lost his job a year ago.

A site manager with more than 10 years' experience, he was laid off when working in North Wales but said that after signing on to Universal Credit , he ended up going three months before getting the money he needed to survive.

He said: "I only got £167 on October 21 (after signing on in October) - because they said I had worked a week in October, so this money was deducted from my first payment.

"Between those three months I had to pay three months worth of rent at £675 a month, (and) council tax of £130 a month and that was before we could heat or feed ourselves."

James said he and his wife 'sold everything' and took out Wonga loans in the months where they had money, before eventually they made the gut-wrenching decision that she would begin sex work to support them.

(Image: PA)

He added: "The second time that we needed to pay the rent was when she decided to take on sex work.

"It was a very hard decision - but we had absolutely nothing left to sell.

"We had sold everything, taken out Wonga loans - it is not something we wanted to happen, it felt like we were in Victorian Britain."

He added: "She did it for a couple of months before I eventually got my payment, it left her very shaken.

"It was only because of that work my wife was doing that we could eat and pay the rent at that time."

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James said the entire situation left him considering taking his own life.

He said: "I was suicidal, the situation made me feel completely worthless.

He added: "I think the government needs to stop Universal Credit now - just one mistake and someone could lose their job and end up like I did - this broke me and my wife."

The government is coming under increased pressure to pause or scrap Universal Credit altogether - with lots of evidence that problems and delays with the new system are forcing people into poverty.

Last week Birkenhead MP Frank Field said that women in his constituency had - like James' wife - had been forced into sex work in a desperate attempt to support themselves while waiting for their benefit payments.

In response to this, Liverpool-born benefits chief Esther McVey told him that he could tell those women that 'there are other jobs on offer.'

Despite the many reported problems, the Department of Work and Pensions insists that most Universal Credit claimants are 'comfortable' using the new system.

A spokesman said: “Universal Credit simplifies an out-of-date, complex system with evidence showing that under UC claimants are getting into work faster and staying in work longer.

“Our research shows that many people join Universal Credit with pre-existing arrears, but the proportion of people with arrears falls by a third after four months in UC.

(Image: PA)

“The majority of claimants are comfortable managing their money but we are increasing support to help people who need it to stay on top of their payments. Up to 100% benefit advances and direct rent payments to landlords can be provided.

"We also recently removed the 7-day waiting period from new claims and continue to pay people’s Housing Benefit for two weeks while they wait for their first full Universal Credit payment.”