MISERLY Tory universal credit payments are causing deep financial hardship for actors, artists and musicians who are being “pushed out of their industries and into destitution,” Equity warned today.

The creative practitioners’ union said research it conducted alongside the University of Warwick reveals that nearly half of those subjected to the benefit’s “minimum income floor,” which cuts support for the self-employed, have been unable to pay bills.

About four in 10 are skipping meals, while 5 per cent have even been forced to leave their home, it stressed.