By Philippa Whitford, SNP MP for Central Ayrshire

WOMEN shouldn’t have to choose between poverty and abuse yet the UK Government is forcing women to do just that.

Universal Credit (UC), the Tories’ flagship welfare policy, is routinely only paid into one bank account per recipient household and charity Women’s Aid is concerned that this could keep women, and to a lesser extent men, trapped in abusive relationships. The worry is also that paying the combined benefits of a couple into a single bank account could impede funds reaching intended beneficiaries such as partners and children, and make financial coercion easier.

Today, on the eve of International Women’s Day, I publish my Universal Credit (Application, Advice and Assistance) Bill which seeks to protect women from financial abuse by introducing routine split payments. It would also compel the UK Government to carry out detailed equality impact assessments of its welfare changes, which it has failed to do despite research showing women have borne the brunt of 86% of the cuts.

Sadly, domestic abuse is rife in the UK with police receiving, on average, 100 calls every hour. Financial abuse is a form of domestic abuse and is estimated to affect one in five women at some point in their lives.

It is used by perpetrators to isolate victims who may have no money to even have a coffee with friends and to keep them financially dependent so that they have no chance of leaving the abusive relationship; half of women in such relationships agreed with the statement, “I don’t have any money of my own so I can’t leave”. Child Poverty Action Group says many women abused by a partner find their finances are controlled as part of the abuse and believes it should be made harder for abusers to appropriate money meant for the family by making split UC payments the norm. The UK Government claims its alternative payment arrangements, which allow abused partners to apply for split payments in exceptional circumstances, deals with this but few women are aware of the option and 85% of domestic abuse survivors who spoke to Women’s Aid said applying for split payments would anger their partner and make the abuse worse. Split payments should be made the default.

The UK Government has been warned repeatedly that joint payments could exacerbate financial abuse and yet it persists with single payments. In answer to my recent Parliamentary Question, the Department for Work and Pensions said: “As employers pay employees and do not divide salary payments amongst households, the UC payment arrangements mirror that.”

This response makes the assumption that only one person in each household is employed; the notion of the “breadwinner” is like being transported back to the 1950s, where this policy belongs. If both partners are working, they would not expect their employer to insist their salaries be paid to one person. This outdated model is detrimental to the progress of women’s equality and is characteristic of a government woefully out of touch with society.

The policy also flies in the face of research showing that, if monies associated with childcare are paid to the primary carers, most commonly women, the funds are more likely to be spent on the children. The UK Government should not persist with policies that put vulnerable women and children in danger, allowing them to be financially deprived or abused when a simple amendment could provide protection.

Dr Whitford is the party’s Westminster spokeswoman on health.