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Benefit claimants on the government’s flagship welfare scheme have been kept off official unemployment figures, the government has admitted.

Errors by Iain Duncan Smith’s bungling Department of Work and Pensions have meant those on the new Universal Credit scheme are being excluded from the official “claimant count” figure used to measure the number of people out of work.

The Office for National Statistics, which publishes unemployment figures, said: “The DWP have not been able to supply ONS with this information in a way that has allowed its inclusion within the Claimant Count, resulting in the exclusion of UC claims from this measure.”

Labour said the revelation meant there were now “serious questions about whether the government even knows how many people are being left off official unemployment figures”.

The party’s shadow work and pensions secretary Rachel Reeves said: “This is another error by incompetent ministers in their botched roll-out of Universal Credit.

“If David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith can’t ensure Universal Credit claimants are included on official unemployment figures, how can we have any confidence in their ability to deliver this flagship project?”

She added: “It’s time for ministers to get a grip of the spiralling waste and delays which are costing taxpayers millions.”

The revelation is just the latest crisis to hit Mr Duncan Smith’s flagship benefit reform.

It comes after Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said the roll out of scheme was “lamentable”.

But a Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said: “We have been fully transparent in publishing the number of people claiming Universal Credit.

“To ensure consistency the Department released these figures alongside the employment statistics. Universal credit is both an in and out of work benefit so some claimants may be working.

“The truth is that independent statistics show that unemployment is falling significantly and 1.3million more people are in work than in 2010.”