Swathes of low-income areas across Britain have suffered the further blow of seeing their benefits slashed in Universal Credit deductions.

Figures for May 2023 show areas with the highest number of people on Universal Credit also have the highest proportions of claimants seeing their payments slashed.

The constituencies of Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Walton; and Knowsley, which each have around 14,000 people on the benefit, also have the highest proprtion of claimants who saw their payments reduced, the Mirror reports.

In Middlesborough, six in 10 claimants had their payment deducted, with an average pay cut of £65, accruing a total of £559,000 in deductions for the month.

In Liverpool, Walton and Knowsley - the latter is in the Merseyside area - 59 percent and 58 percent of people faced deductions, with total deductions above £520,000 in both areas.

There were nine areas where 58 percent or more of claimants had deductions in May, including:

• Middlesbrough - 60 percent
• Liverpool, Walton - 59 percent
• Knowsley - 58 percent
• Hartlepool - 58 percent
• Blackpool South - 58 percent
• Liverpool, West Derby - 58 percent
• Glasgow East - 58 percent
• Easington - 58 percent.

There were more than 130 constituencies where at least half of claimants had their payment deducted.

Birmingham, Ladywood had the highest total deductions, at £646,000. This affected 11,000 claims in the area out of a total of 23,400, with an average deduction of £59.

The second highest area was Leeds Central, where a total of £624,000 was slashed, with an average deduction of £63.

These were the top 10 areas where the mosts deductions were taken in May:

• Birmingham, Ladywood - £646,000
• Leeds Central - £624,000
• Tottenham - £622,000
• Manchester Central - £589,000
• Blackley and Broughton - £583,000
• Brent Central - £582,000
• Middlesbrough - £559,000
• Knowsley - £526,000
• West Ham - £525,000
• Liverpool, Walton - £523,000.

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