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Amber Rudd faces mounting pressure to halt and review Universal Credit after losing a landmark High Court battle.

The judgment today was a damning blow to the Tory welfare chief - 10 minutes before she gave a major speech saying she will reform the system.

Judges ruled the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) treated four working single mothers wrongly under the new benefit.

Danielle Johnson, Claire Woods, Erin Barrett and Katie Stewart suffered huge changes to their UC payments when two pay cheques came during one "assessment period".

The system wrongly treated them as doubling their salary, a situation the ruling branded "odd in the extreme" and "nonsensical".

Lawyers for the women said the glitch could affect tens of thousands of UC claimants and David Finch of the Resolution Foundation said it had "major implications"

(Image: PA)

Solicitor Tessa Gregory of Leigh Day said her client was left £500 out of pocket and "spiralling into debt". She added: "This is yet another demonstration of how broken Universal Credit is and why its rollout must be stopped."

Child Poverty Action Group solicitor Carla Clarke added: "The DWP has designed a rigid process that is out of step with both actual reality and the law."

The DWP is considering whether to appeal. A spokesman said: "We are carefully considering the court's judgment."

The ruling today heaped pressure on Ms Rudd 10 minutes before she unveiled wide-ranging reforms to UC in a major speech - that critics said didn't go far enough.

(Image: PA)

The Work and Pensions Secretary announced:

More of UC will go to a home's 'main carer', ensuring women get cash instead of their controlling partners;

An online portal will let landlords take rent directly from people's benefits, instead of pushing them into arrears;

A pilot scheme will make payments more regular than once-a-month for people who struggle to budget;

Parents won't always be asked to pay for childcare up front, a policy that forces them into debt;

A £250m extension of the 'two-child' benefits limit to children born before April 2017 will be cancelled;

MPs will delay a vote on moving 3million existing benefit claimants to Universal Credit.

Speaking at a south London Jobcentre, Ms Rudd admitted parts of the system are not "compassionate" and vowed to restore UC as a "decent safety net".

But charities, campaigners and Labour slammed her for not going far enough.

(Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Tory welfare chief admitted she will not end the four-year benefit freeze early.

She declared the £3.9billion-a-year cut to benefits including UC "should" not be renewed in 2020 - but gave no guarantees.

Triggering a battle with the Treasury, she said: "I haven't had any further conversations with the Chancellor so I'd better not say anything too definitive."

Joseph Rowntree Foundation chief executive Campbell Robb said the freeze was the "biggest policy sweeping families into poverty" and must be scrapped this April.

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine added: "Rudd should end the benefits freeze immediately."

(Image: Getty)

Meanwhile the two-child limit on UC will continue for any child born after April 2017, cutting up to £2,780 per child and hitting 700,000 families by the mid-2030s.

Research warns the limit will hurl hundreds of thousands of children into poverty - but Ms Rudd rejected calls to scrap it and called it "fair".

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “The two-child limit is morally wrong and should be scrapped for everyone."

Sign our Universal Credit petition The Mirror are demanding a halt to the expansion of Universal Credit and for a review to take place. We say there are three options: Redesign UC to be fit for purpose

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Despite Ms Rudd's promises the number of people on UC will more than double this year - including hundreds of thousands of existing claimants who see a change of circumstances.

Labour said the flood of problems with UC showed it must be halted and reviewed.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood said: "The Tories must stop the roll out of Universal Credit to ensure no more people are plunged into poverty and deprivation."