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A union representing Government workers who deal with Universal Credit has condemned the new benefit.

The Public and Commercial Services Union slammed the new welfare scheme and says it needs serious reforms - or scrapping altogether.

Members of the PCS at offices in Wolverhampton and Walsall had staged a two-day strike at the end of May in a dispute over workloads and staff recruitment.

The union says it has "consistently made representations to DWP" about stress levels in offices handling Universal Credit and also at jobcentres where staff deal with the benefit.

But the DWP has refused to work with PCS, it says.

Now the union has hit out following the DWP's advertising campaign on Universal Credit in the Metro newspaper.

(Image: PA)

The adverts - claiming to reveal the truth about common myths relating to Universal Credit - have been attacked by a number of charities and are the subject of an investigation by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The PCS said: "In response we are exposing the massive problems with a system that we say needs to be scrapped and replaced."

It believes the advert were "at a cost to the taxpayer reported to be in excess of £250,000."

"UC has been beset with serious and wide-ranging problems since its inception," said the PCS.

"The roll-out timetable has been pushed back several times, with the entire programme having to be reset in early 2013. The independent National Audit Office judges that UC has neither saved public money nor helped people into work.

"But it has left thousands of vulnerable claimants penniless, while others are forced to turn to foodbanks to survive and even lose their homes.

(Image: CT)

"Research produced for the children’s commissioner shows the Government’s welfare reforms will double the number of children in poverty in some areas and mean half of low-income families will lose thousands of pounds a year.

"The number of children living in families that have a monthly deficit will double in some areas, because of the combined impact of Universal Credit, a two-child limit on some welfare payments and the benefits cap.

"The research, produced for the children’s commissioner, found that a quarter of children in its sample would be hit by the measures. Almost half of low-income households examined were affected, losing on average £3,441 a year."

The PCS added that MPs on the House of Commons' public accounts committee (PAC) have criticised the benefit as causing "unacceptable hardship and difficulties for many of the claimants it was designed to help."

The PCS concluded: "Our union has had serious concerns from the outset about the development, implementation and effect of the Government’s Universal Credit programme.

"Our members are on the frontline, and are suffering as a result of the Government’s chaotic welfare ‘reforms’, staff cuts and office closure programme.

"Our members see first-hand the devastating effect government policies have on the most vulnerable in our society, yet their voices and concerns are too often ignored by the Tory Government.

"We have fundamental concerns with the UC system and believe that without resolution, the system will fail the most vulnerable in our society and have a significant detrimental impact on UC claimants and their dependents."

(Image: PA)

Union staff have produced a pamphlet, Social Security: The Case for Radical Change.

It states: "Universal Credit has been flawed in its implementation but it also sets a dangerous precedent for those who need support from the state.

"Efforts made to simplify the benefits system are welcome but by lumping all working-age benefits into one monthly sum responsibility and blame are shifted onto the claimant.

"The emphasis on the individual responsibility element of Universal Credit is of particular concern for those who are vulnerable or have financial literacy issues."

The PCS's Universal Credit demands for reform of the system are stated in the pamphlet as: