Erica Young, a policy officer, stated, "We would like to see the five-week delay eliminated entirely.

"We don't believe it really reflects actual life, and it is a completely new component of the benefit system.

"This has never happened before. All other benefits were paid weekly or fortnightly."

Ms Young explained that advanced loan repayments are typically spread over a 12-month period, reducing the amount of assistance they receive for the entire year.

"Given the level of universal credit, which is already not adequate to meet people's very basic needs, the situation can be quite dramatic for people trying to work their way around that budget," she told me.

It is believed that approximately 20% of those who were supposed to switch from tax credits to Universal Credit did not do so. "Quite often that's because of the amount of management involved in maintaining a Universal Credit claim," Ms. Young added. According to the Citizens' Advice policy officer, consumers must visit the employment centre every couple of weeks and monitor their online account for communications on a regular basis. People receiving universal credit and working fewer than 18 hours per week may now be forced to look for extra work, after a modification to the system earlier this year. According to the DWP, the rule change would require 180,000 people in the UK to increase their earnings or risk losing some.

Terry McTernan, a local activist in Paisley's Ferguslie Park neighborhood, helps manage a community market at the Tannadice Center.

It provides low-income households with reduced-cost food items.

Terry stated that he has had to assist several community members while they wait for their first universal credit payment.

"We've grown to expect that the welfare system is not fit for purpose," he told me.

"This is not something that happened just last week; it has been a long-standing issue.

"Universal credit practically from the first kick of the ball was unfit for purpose.

"The assumption that everyone receiving universal credit is a lazy, work-shy shirker is ridiculous.

"It doesn't correlate with my lived experience at all."