Government minister blasted over claims universal credit is positive reform that is 'transforming lives'

'Claimants are being screwed down into destitution while the DWP insists that all is okay'

Alok Sharma prompted criticism after claiming the government’s flagship welfare benefit was working for claimants (AFP)

A government minister has been criticised for claiming universal credit is a positive reform that is “transforming people’s lives” following a damning report which called the fundamental aspects of its existence into question.

Employment minister Alok Sharma claimed on Friday morning that the government’s flagship welfare benefit was working for claimants and that he had heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from visits to job centres across the country.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, the minister said: “From talking to claimants around the country – I go and visit job centres, I talk to claimants and I talk to the people working there – and what they tell me is this is a simpler system, it’s helping them get into work and its working for them.

“This is a positive benefit that is transforming people’s lives. And that is something that I hear up and down the country.”

Charities who work directly with claimants on a day-to-day basis repudiated the claims, saying universal credit was having a "devastating" impact on many vulnerable people and that there was a lack of focus on people with additional needs.

It comes after the National Audit Office (NAO) found the new benefit was failing to deliver value for money and pushing claimants into debt, rent arrears and dependence on food banks as a result of delays.

The damning assessment stated that universal credit may cost more than the social security system it replaces – and warned there was no way of measuring whether it will ever meet its economic aim of getting 200,000 more people into work.

The report followed a High Court ruling on Thursday which found the rollout had unlawfully discriminated against people with disabilities by taking “essential benefits” from claimants, in the first legal test it has faced.

Responding to Ms Sharma’s comments James Taylor, head of policy and public affairs at disability charity Scope, said: “In contrary to this, today’s report shows universal credit is having a devastating impact on many disabled people.

“It comes just a day after a High Court judge said the system was unlawfully discriminating against disabled people – the government cannot bury its head in the sand. It needs to recognise the impact these flaws are having on disabled people’s lives, and take urgent action to fix these problems.”

Kayley Hignell, head of families welfare and work policy at Citizens' Advice, told The Independent the organisation was seeing a "good proportion of people really struggling" after being transferred to universal credit.

"These are often the people who have additional needs – from carers to those who have a disability to those who have high childcare costs," she said.

"Universal credit needs to work across the board, from people who have simple needs, to those with more complex needs. The NAO confirmed that one in five are not being paid in full or on time, and if you look at the data, it is quite clear that it's those who have additional support needs are those who are struggling most.

"Getting payment on time is really critical for these people. It's unacceptable that it's not working for so many."

Following the NAO report, Labour MP Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee condemned the DWP’s “constant” assertion that “everything is going well“ and that any criticism comes from those who “wish to make trouble for universal credit”.

In stark contrast to Mr Sharma’s comments, Mr Field said: “The points that individuals have raised with the select committee are now written large as systemic faults within the system, and the government is caught in a trap of its own making.

“Because ministers were taught to be in denial earlier in the programme, it has advanced to a stage where there is now a mega cost to scrap it and a mega cost to taxpayers to continue with it.

“Either way, too many claimants are being screwed down into destitution while the DWP insists that all is okay. The universal credit we have seen is a shambles, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

"Sadly this report will make little difference if the senior officers running universal credit remain firmly entrenched in La La Land.”