Local charities are expecting “onslaughts of people needing extra help” as they ready themselves for Universal Credit to be rolled out across the district.

The system – which combines child tax credit, housing benefit, income support, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance into a single monthly payment – is to be introduced to Canterbury today.

It was hoped the scheme would help claimants back into work and be more cost-efficient and practical than the previous arrangement.

But Universal Credit has been heavily criticised for several years.

The National Audit Office released a report last week that found it is costing £699 per claim – four times the amount the government intends to spend when it is fully developed.

It has also been derided for delays to payments, making people create and manage claims online and running several years behind schedule.

Ahead of its rollout, Simone Field, the district manager of Canterbury’s Citizens Advice Bureau, said the charity is anticipating problems.

“We are expecting more people trying to see us because there have been a lot of problems with it,” she explained.

“This could be the first time for some dealing with an online benefits system, people have had issues securing the right ID and, increasingly on Universal Credit, people are being sanctioned.

“We are talking to groups like the food bank and the local Umbrella Centre. Everyone’s having to gear up because we are expecting large onslaughts of people needing extra help.

“When Dover rolled out in May 2017, its benefits claimants went up by about 40%.”

Ms Field added there were fears claimants could wait longer than five weeks for their first payments.

As a result, she has urged anyone looking to receive Universal Credit to verify their identity and sort out other documentation in advance.

The charity also received a grant of almost £3,000 from Canterbury City Council to fund extra training for its advisers ahead of the rollout.

Ms Field added: “We are expecting more people using food banks, especially in the waiting period.

“We have advisers based at the Canterbury food bank and also somebody will be going to the Whitstable food bank.

“We’ve been working quite closely with the Jobcentre partnership managers so that we can contact them if we have problems. We’ve also got an arrangement to provide a service for people who are vulnerable and can’t get to a Jobcentre following the closure of the Whitstable and Herne Bay ones.”

Ms Field has urged those experiencing difficulties with the new system to contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau.

“We can help people at all stages of the process – whether they need to make the claim, if they’re having problems receiving the benefits or if they face a sanction and need to challenge it,” she said.

Parents with three or more children cannot claim Universal Credit and will instead continue to receive Child Tax Credit.

The system was rolled out in Dover and Thanet last year.

“We are in a period of transition of going from the old legacy benefits to the new type,” Ms Field added.

“The people on existing claims are currently scheduled to be put onto Universal Credit in 2020.”

For more information, visit www.citizensadvice.org.uk.