Thousands more people in Birmingham were put on universal credit in October - despite the system falling into apparent chaos.

New figures from the Department for Work and Pensions have revealed that 49,345 people in our city were on the benefits system as of mid-October.

That’s up from 45,566 people just a month earlier, meaning a further 3,779 individuals in Birmingham were moved on to universal credit last month.

The increase occurred just before the government postponed the next stage of universal credit, following public backlash against the benefits and mounting pressure from critics.

The scheme was first introduced in 2013, and was intended to replace six “legacy” benefits, including unemployment benefit, tax credits and housing benefit.

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It was supposed to be implemented across the UK by 2017, but management failures, IT blunders and design faults mean it had already fallen at least five years behind schedule.

Following this further delay, which was announced last month, the system is now not expected to be fully operational until December 2023.

There have been a wealth of problems caused by the new single benefit.

As well as leaving claimants with nothing to live on during the transition period - which takes longer than a month - many are then finding they are then worse off than they were while on legacy benefits.

Meanwhile, flaws in the system put poorer claimants especially at heightened risk of hunger, debt and rent arrears, ill-health and homelessness.

The Trussell Trust - the UK’s largest food bank network - have reported that food bank referral rates in areas where the full universal credit rollout has taken place are more than twice as high as the national average.

Meanwhile, earlier this week a BBC Panorama investigation revealed that council tenants on universal credit have on average more than double the rent arrears of those still on housing benefit.

The average amount owed by people who are in council housing and claiming universal credit is around £663, while those still on housing benefit owe an average of £263.

The increase in the number of people on universal credit in Birmingham means that one in every 23 people in our city are now on the scheme.

That’s twice as high as the national average.

Across Great Britain, 1.3 million people were on the scheme in October - up from 1.2 million in September, and working out as one in every 49 people.