Rise in emergency welfare claimants

FIGURES show that the number of people claiming emergency welfare payments is continuing to rise, with almost 90,000 people claiming rent supplement alone.

However, the as-yet-unpublished statistics also show that the rate of claims has slowed somewhat after it spiked dramatically over the course of the past year.

Figures at the end of May show that more people are struggling to meet rent and mortgage payments and have applied for supplementary welfare allowances to tide them over.