Problems facing the rollout of Universal Credit have resulted in the implementation of the combined services program being described as being as “like banging your head against a brick wall” due to communication obstacles.

The comments from benefits manager at Rugby Council, David Wortley, came during the Civica Annual Conference in Manchester, who said: “I do support UC. But the administration leaves a lot to be desired."

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The comments comes as the £2.4 billion programme to combine the six main benefit systems faces issues surrounding communications and overall support during the transition process.

Despite the comments surrounding the deployment of the scheme nationally, David Wortley described how Universal Credit had helped Rugby Council rebuild its relationship with the local Job Centre Plus and had helped to reduce benefit fraud abuse, saying that: "A lot of people have been hammering it, but for some customers UC is brilliant".

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