Angus Council leader Iain Gaul has delivered a stinging attack on Scotland Office Minister David Mundell.
It comes after a delegation led by Mr Gaul and depute leader Paul Valentine responded to an invitation to meet Mr Mundell as part of the Government’s stakeholder engagement on welfare reform.
Mr Gaul said: “Given the Westminster Government’s previous stance on welfare reform we didn’t expect to get a lot from the meeting but we had to try.
“We got exactly what we thought we would get from Mr Mundell. Nothing.
“However we took the opportunity to impress on him and make clear that the impact of the cuts would be felt from cradle to grave, meaning that not only would the most vulnerable face cuts to their income but that almost every area in the county and income group in Angus would lose one way or another.”
Mr Gaul said the council’s financial well-being could also be hit due to increased arrears and non-collection for council tax and housing rents.
He said: “I am concerned that this agenda will lead to an increased risk of homelessness and reduced investment by the council.”
The Angus leader also said new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) arrangements will result in a potential loss of income to the Angus economy of £5.37m per year.
He said the migration to the new benefit will generate a large number of appeals and requests for advice and support and will cause confusion, stress and worry to many disabled people.
Mr Valentine also highlighted the cost shunting that has added to the burden in Angus.
He said: “As a council we are having to step in to provide financial inclusion support and digital inclusion training as the UK Government expects 80% of welfare claims to be done online.
“To cope with this we have had to invest significant sums of money. These sums are in addition to the £300,000 for council tax support, meaning around half a million pounds has had to be diverted from services to support the council tax changes as well as the countless hours spent on preparing for this change and influx of calls for help that the benefit changes will bring.”