A TOWN Council hopes to obtain £600,000 in European funding to reduce the impact of Universal Credit on its residents.

In Liskeard, parts of the town are in the most deprived 10% of the country, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In the town as a whole, 750 people are classed as ‘not in work’, either because they are claiming Job Seekers Allowance or because they receive Employment Support Allowance due to illness or disability.

And 1,185 working people in the town are in receipt of Working Tax Credits.

The Town Council says it is worried about how these people and their families will fare when Universal Credit is rolled out - a process that will begin in the town in December and continue through to 2021.

The Council also wants to help improve the prospects and well-being of its lowest-income families by boosting people’s skills and qualifications.

Members have pledged to put £30,000 towards a bid for £600,000 in European Social Funding.

If successful, a joint project between the Town Council, Cornwall Housing, and other partner organisations would be created to help reduce the number of Liskeard households in deprivation, improve people’s work and life prospects, and help ‘mitigate against the impact of the rollout of Universal Credits’.

‘This is an issue that needs tackling,’ said town clerk Steve Vinson.

‘The impact of Universal Credit on the people that live here as well as on the town itself is such that Town Council members decided they wanted to take action.

‘With this bid we hope to get some resources to try and do something to make individual people’s lives better, and reduce the impact on individuals as well as on the wider community.’

The aims of the project, if it goes ahead, would be to support people to engage or re-engage with education, training and work, improve literacy, numeracy, IT and budgeting skills, and mitigate in advance against the future impact of benefits changes.