Benefits cuts to hit families

MORE than 140,000 Scottish families could lose out under the government's plans to shake up welfare, the UK's leading independent financial think-tank has indicated.

In a study of the government's plans to introduce a new universal credit in place of a range of benefits and tax credits, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has suggested that more than a million families across the UK will be among the losers.

Among those who will be worse off under the new system will be lone parents and families with savings above 16,000, who will on average lose out in the long run, the IFS said.