CONTROVERSIAL benefits system Universal Credit will be paid to new claimants in Oxford from today.

Oxford City Council agreed on Monday to set up a £50,000 emergency fund to support new claimants, who will have to wait at least six weeks before they receive their first payment.

People can ask for an advance payment from the government but it needs to be paid back within six months. All requests for new payments must be made online.

The rollout will only affect people who are making new claims – but tens of thousands of people will be impacted across Oxfordshire by the time it is completed by 2022. It is estimated it will be paid to 12,000 households in Oxford East and another 6,000 in Oxford West and Abingdon.

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The new system is designed for benefit recipients to make it more simple to claim benefits such as child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, and job seekers' allowance.

The changes mean a single credit payment is paid directly to the claimant once a month for all the benefits they are eligible for.

There is no limit to the number of hours a claimant can work per week on credit, in an effort to stop anyone being in a situation where they are better off claiming benefits than working. Under the old system people lost their benefits if they worked more than 16 hours a week.

However, it has proved controversial since it was announced in 2010.

The benefits change will affect thousands of people in Oxford and had been called a ‘disaster waiting to happen’ by the Citizens Advice Bureau.

As Universal Credit is based on how much claimants earn earn month it is paid in arrears causing some people to go four weeks or more without money.