A DWP chief tonight appeared to suggest around 800,000 benefit claimants have been forced onto Universal Credit without transition cash.

Neil Couling, UC Director General, told MPs "roughly half" of those joining the six-in-one system are existing benefit claimants whose circumstances have changed.

As of January this year, 1.6million people were on UC.

Existing benefit claimants who are moved to UC will have a transition fund to ensure their income doesn’t drop, in a trial that starts in Harrogate this July and only rolls out fully in 2020.

But these protections do not apply to people whose circumstances change.

MPs have heard this so-called "natural" migration is triggered by changes in circumstances as small as a relationship breakup or a child’s fifth birthday.

Labour MP Neil Coyle said the move was having a "terrible impact on many people’s lives".

Work and Pensions Committee chairman Frank Field said: "People moving over are stranded. They don’t have enough money."

In a hearing of the committee today, Mr Coyle asked "what message" the new trial sent to those who have already moved.

He told Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd: "What are we, five years in?

"And you’re beginning a new pilot to see how Universal Credit works?"

Independent Group MP Heidi Allen added: "It’s pushing people under the water".

Ms Rudd replied to the MPs: "It has always been the case that if you change your circumstances and need to apply for new benefit, you may find that the situation of the benefits that are being proposed have changed."

But Ms Allen said it was a problem hitting people who’d moved "two yards down the road".

Asked how many people had had a change of circumstances, Mr Couling told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee: “It is hard to give a precise estimate.

"Because obviously it depends on the number of changes of circumstances that occur in a period, and that itself could be determined by economic and other factors.

“But roughly it’s about half and half of caseload growth is through a change in circumstance – and half is through a pure new claim to benefit."

Policy in Practice warned 40% of UC claimants who move through natural migration lose out by an average of £59 a week compared to the old system.

Meanwhile 30% are expected to gain by £44 a week, the think tank told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee.

Asked to respond to the suggestion 800,000 people had moved through natural migration, a DWP spokesperson said: “Only new claimants or people who have undergone a change in circumstances are currently being asked to apply for Universal Credit .

"Where someone’s circumstances change it’s right that we reassess their entitlement to ensure they’re receiving the right level of support.”

Ms Rudd admitted the initial rollout of UC, and the wait for payments, "did I believe contribute to the growth of food banks” but insisted reasons are “varied”, and since the period she was talking about there’s been “vast improvement”.

Meanwhile, Amber Rudd told MPs the four-year freeze on most working-age benefits "will stay" until March 2020, but she "expected" it will end after that.

"I have private conversations with the Chancellor," she said.

And she revealed the DWP have drawn up plans to hire extra staff in a No Deal Brexit .

The Work and Pensions Secretary told a committee of MPs: “We have been making preparations for no deal planning.

“We are making sure that if there is an economic downturn, we are prepared to hire additional people should there be fewer jobs available as a result of a no deal exit.”

She also confirmed reports the government overall has been looking at the possibility of a “hardship fund” if there is no deal. 

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