“I’m going to have to quit work,” is what one single mum told me in my weekly advice surgery. She was a DWP “poster woman” for its apprenticeship programme – earning while training part-time to fit it around the care needs of her children. She was OK until universal credit was extended locally to cover some parents. My constituency of Southwark is a “full service area” and has been piloting universal credit before it is rolled out to other areas of the country in October.

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Her childcare costs should be covered within universal credit, but an IT glitch means her online “journal” cannot capture childcare adequately, leading to months of confusion, delays and missed payments. She relied on help from her family initially, but has fallen into debt and is at the end of her tether.

This is not an isolated case. My constituent is far from alone in losing out under universal credit. Research by UK charity Gingerbread shows that single parents are being deliberately made worse off under universal credit. Working single parents will lose £800 a year on average by 2020 – and some will be £2,000 worse off. This sneaky, devious cut was one of George Osborne’s last acts before he was turfed out of government.

Southwark’s trialling of universal credit has been fraught with problems. Almost weekly, I have seen the direct effect of the scheme’s inbuilt delays. From asking for help to getting any takes at least six weeks, but the average has consistently been higher – and many people wait up to 12 weeks. This pushes many into foodbank use, debt, rent arrears and even evictions. It is also unnecessary, as advanced payment agreements could be made to help people with learning disabilities, previous money troubles or at risk of homelessness, which cut the delays considerably. DWP has, to date, refused to advertise or use them properly.

This DWP failure has a clear effect. The Leathermarket JMB is a resident-managed housing organisation in Southwark. It is well run and, until recently, the average tenant’s rent account was about £70 in credit. The 137 tenants on universal credit, however, now are an average of £648 in arrears. If universal credit is rolled out without tackling inbuilt delays it would leave councils, housing associations and other landlords with crippling deficits, and eviction costs, to boot.

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Pecan, Southwark’s main foodbank provider, estimates that benefit delays have caused a tripling of the number of children reliant on its help since universal credit was extended locally to cover parents. One single father recently broke down as he told me he couldn’t afford soap or sanitary products for his daughter.

Theresa May promised a different focus for her government; universal credit is her biggest test yet. Failing to act now by delaying the rollout until it can be implemented effectively will inflict Southwark’s horrific experience on thousands more families across Britain.

• Neil Coyle is Labour MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark