A butcher in West Yorkshire is handing out free Christmas hampers to people who have been left with nothing over the Christmas period due to delayed Universal Credit payments.
David Jones, 52, will give away the free baskets of festive meat worth £25 to claimants whose money will not be available until the New Year, the Mirror has reported.
The hampers will include a turkey for Christmas Day and pigs-in-blankets.
Mr Jones, owner of D Jones Quality Butcher in Dewsbury, said he wanted to help “vulnerable people”.
He said he noticed the strain the delayed payments was having on a number of locals in his area a few months ago and had spoken to families left with “no money or just a pittance for weeks on end”.
At the time he gave away £1,000 worth of meat to claimants who were struggling.
But now he is so keen to help the needy that he is handing out hampers to skint families over the festive season.
Mr Jones, who also organises collections for local food banks, said: “They just don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
“I think Universal Credit is a barbaric, cruel benefit that is deliberately imposing great hardship on people who are the most vulnerable in our society.
“Going without money over Christmas doesn’t bear thinking about.”
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