THE flagship policy of Universal Credit is in "disarray", suffering from a lack of staff, poor training and inadequate IT, according to a study.

A survey of around 400 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union showed that 90 per cent believed expensive IT systems dealing with the benefit were less than adequate

Almost three quarters said working conditions were worse than in their previous role and four in five said the training was less than adequate to prepare them for working on the scheme.

Almost four out of five did not feel there were enough staff and two thirds said they were frequently asked to work overtime, said the union.

More than half said they did not think Universal Credit was an improvement for claimants.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "No one can trust Iain Duncan Smith (Work and Pensions Secretary) to tell the truth about Universal Credit so it falls to the staff to expose this wasteful and politically motivated shambles for what it is.

"It has long been obvious that staff are under-resourced and under-trained and that universal credit is at risk of collapse. The DWP cannot keep burying its head in the sand and hope these problems go away because they are only going to get worse if nothing is done."

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "The PCS survey comprises of only 13 per cent of our 2,700 staff working on Universal Credit. They chose to ignore staff in our Jobcentres when conducting this research providing a skewed unrepresentative sample of union members.

"The reality is Universal Credit is already transforming lives and our staff are passionate about the work they do."