THE introduction of Universal Credit (UC) has been an utter shambolic exercise in welfare reform, purposely designed in order to put off or prevent people from claiming it.

For some, like Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, enough is enough.

It has written to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) calling for a halt in the introduction into the borough in November "because of the harm it would inflict on the community".

UC is a living nightmare.There's the five week "waiting period" for first payment, the mind-blowingly complicated computer-based system, the dreadful "sanction" regime, the 35-hours-a-week compulsory job search hunting for work that does not exist.

The Tories say the scheme "makes work pay".What an insult to people's intelligence!

We are told for every extra pound you earn above your UC allowance you can keep just 37p of it.

The DWP and many Conservative MPs say this sum, a mere handful of rustic copper, will actually help raise your income and eventually get you off claiming benefit.

My goodness, making work pay has never sounded so attractive.

Stephen Dixon, Redcar