More than 6,000 people in Great Yarmouth are now claiming Universal Credit (UC).

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that in August the figures were 6,038.

The new benefit system was introduced in the borough as part of a pilot in April 2016.

People who claim can still be in work and is not just for unemployed workers.

In November, when 3,313 were signed up to the new system, Great Yarmouth Borough Council wrote to the then Work and Pensions secretary Damian Green asking for asking for the immediate suspension of the housing benefit element of the system due to adverse effects on residents.

Some people had been made homeless after getting into arrears with their rent.

By February, when 4,830 people in the borough were claiming under the new system, landlords refused to take on new UC claimants because so many people were getting into arrears.