Crisis loans ‘must not be capped’

Cuts to the level and availability of crisis loans could drive thousands of vulnerable people into the hands of loan sharks, according to an SNP MSP.

Fiona McLeod said disabled, pensioner and single-parent households need access to social fund crisis loans, but the UK government planned to put an annual cap of three loans per household on them. A recent parliamentary question revealed that more than 700,000 loans were approved for people who had already required four or more loans over the past year.

Ms McLeod, MSP for Strath-kelvin and Bearsden, said: “Cutting support for people at a moment of crisis must be the Tories’ cruellest cut yet.”