Universal credit has the lowest claimant satisfaction rates of any welfare benefit, according to an official survey that suggests tens of thousands of people are being left frustrated by their experience of the government’s flagship programme.

One in 10 claimants told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) they were “very dissatisfied” with their experience of universal credit, and they reported significant levels of discontent with the quality and effectiveness of the service they received.

Campaigners said the survey confirmed there were still “fundamental problems” with universal credit and called for it to be closed to new claims while the issues are fixed.

The chief executive of the charity Child Poverty Action Group, Alison Garnham, said: “The work and pensions secretary has said she is listening to concerns about how universal credit plays out on the ground. Will she listen to the many people who responded to this survey to report ongoing problems?

“The ministerial refrain is that universal credit is a force for good but the DWP’s own survey shows in reality there are still fundamental problems. Overall, satisfaction rates among universal credit claimants are worse than for any other DWP benefit. That is not where universal credit should be.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “Overall satisfaction among claimants has remained consistently high over the last three years. Four out of five claimants are satisfied with the support they have received when claiming universal credit and this survey plays a vital role in helping us improve this number even more.”

At the time of the survey there were about 600,000 universal credit claimants. The results equate to approximately 114,000 “dissatisfied” claimants, of whom 60,000 were “very dissatisfied”.

There are nowabout 1.6 million claimants, and it is expected that by 2023 there will be approximately 7 million.

Increased claimant satisfaction is a key success measure for the benefit as set out in the DWP’s business case to the Treasury.

Other findings include:

Nearly one in five universal credit claimants said they had reported difficulties in their dealings with DWP. Asked subsequently whether their dealings had been resolved, more than half (55%) said they had not.

Almost a fifth of claimants reported they were given incorrect information when they called universal credit staff, while a similar proportion felt staff “did not understand their circumstances”.

At 80%, the level of overall satisfaction with universal credit in 2017-18 was lower than the previous year (83%), although the DWP insists comparisons cannot be made because of differences in the claimant sample.

One in six respondents said they did not have internet access at home, suggesting they relied on computers in libraries, cafes or jobcentres to apply for, or update their claim for, the primarily online benefit.

The survey appears to contradict claims by the work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, last month that persistent media reports of problems with universal credit were based on “one or two people where the advice hasn’t worked for them”.

She said the new benefit was an improvement on the previous “broken” system. However, the 2017-18 survey shows it lags behind satisfaction rates for employment and support allowance, income support, and jobseekers’ allowance, all of which are being merged into universal credit.