Universal credit causing ‘unacceptable hardship’

The Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has admitted the new universal credit system needs to change, after a damning report by MPs.

But she rejected the Public Accounts Committee’s claim that her department had a “systematic culture of denial” and what the report called the “desperate hardship” for claimants during the current rollout of the reform, which combines six existing benefits into one.