The UK Government has been urged to reimburse Highland Council to the tune of more than £2.4m.

The local authority said it has incurred the costs as a result of rent arrears and administration costs as a result of the roll-out of Universal Credit.

The leader of Highland Council Margaret Davidson has already written to Esther McVey, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Ms Davidson said: "It is only right that such costs be funded by the UK Government rather than being met through Highland council tax and rent payers.

"These costs include increased rent arrears for current council tenants, additional housing benefit and council tax reduction administration costs arising from the manual processes that Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) introduced when designing Universal Credit, and reductions to the Council's grant funding from DWP."

Local SNP MP Drew Hendry has also raised the matter with the Secretary of State.

Under Freedom of Information he found Highland Council had been left with a financial gap of more than £424,000 in administration costs between 2016 and 2018.

Mr Hendry said: "In addition to meeting administration costs, the Highland Council is also having to burden the cost of rent arrears which have shot through the roof because of the length of time people and landlords have to wait for payments. It simply cannot go on."

A Department for Work and Pensions Spokesperson said: "Universal Support provides help for claimants to manage their claim and access online and budgeting services as they transition to Universal Credit (UC).

"Rent arrears are complicated and they cannot be attributed to a single cause.

"Our research shows that many people join UC with pre-existing arrears, but the proportion of people with arrears falls by a third after four months on UC.

"Anyone moving to UC from housing benefit is paid an additional two weeks of payment.

"In addition, in Scotland, we are delivering flexibilities in Universal Credit payments known as Scottish choices on behalf of the Scottish Government, where people can choose if they want to be paid twice monthly or to have the housing element of their Universal Credit award paid directly to their landlord."