that Universal Credit creates "a complex mix of winners and losers". It found that in Liverpool, just 32% of families will be better off under Universal Credit, while 52% will be worse off, compared to a national average of 46% losing out, and 39% gaining. Deductions Over 60% of claimants experience deductions, many to repay loans they got to tide them over the first five weeks before they officially got payments. Gillian Guy of Citizens Advice said, "Our evidence shows many people on universal credit are struggling to make ends meet, and that deductions are contributing to this." She urged the government to start affordability tests before recovering debts from claimants. Neil Couling, the chief of the universal credit programme, "admitted that the government over the last 18 months has demanded a push to recover old debt and has provided UC with extra funds to do this". The recovery of debts causes hardship, often due to loans given during the initial five-week wait period but with some larger debts from over-payments made in the previous tax credits system when income increased rapidly. Self-employed claimants Research by the Low Income Tax Reform Group suggests self-employed claimants could be over £2,000 year worse off than employed claimants on similar incomes. The problem applies with fluctuating income as Universal Credit assumes a fixed number of hours worked – the so-called Minimum Income Floor – in its calculation. The government has been urged to change this to allow the self-employed to base claims on their average incomes. Some claimants even could be over £4,000 a year worse off. Some people cannot find work except by being self-employed and such people will be discouraged from starting a business. Frank Field said, "Given what we now know about the hundreds of thousands of workers in the gig economy who earn less than the national living wage, it begs the question as to how many grafters and entrepreneurs are going to be further impoverished, or pushed deeper into debt, as a result of this new hole being opened up in the safety net." Citizens Advice maintains that it risks "creating or exacerbating financial insecurity for the rising sector of the workforce in non-traditional work". People working in their own business will be affected as will those with seasonal work like agriculture and the hotel trade and those with varying overtime pay. 4.5 million people do work with