An MP has been taken to task about comments he made in the House of Commons on Universal Credit.

While acknowledging the new benefits system had flaws, Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said it was "not the disaster caricatured by opposition MPs".

He had visited his constituency's Job Centres, Citizens Advice Bureaux and church groups to learn about any difficulties and "had only a handful of people referred to me and all their problems were resolved quickly by my staff."

But it was comments he made about his visit to the Sittingbourne Food Bank which irked manager Esther Hurwood.

Mr Henderson told the House: "We hear claims that the transition to Universal Credit (UC) had forced more people to use food banks, so to check I went to visit a food bank in my constituency."

Mr Henderson said he was told some people were unable to claim UC - introduced in Sittingbourne in January - because claims had to be made online, but he said computers were available for use in Jobcentres.

Of the others experiencing difficulty, he said: "(My staff) discovered that many were living in a hostel that provides temporary accommodation for homeless adults.

"It soon became obvious that some suffered from underlying problems that affected their ability to ​manage the transition to UC, and that forced them into using the food bank.

"Those problems included drug addiction, alcoholism, mental health problems, an inability to manage money, or plain fecklessness.

"Of course, we have to do something to help those people, but the truth is that they would have the same problems, whatever benefits system was put in place."

But Mrs Hurwood said Mr Henderson had not met any clients on his short visit as he arrived before the foodbank opened.

She said: "His assessment that Universal Credit is not a factor in the sharp rise in foodbank referrals is not upheld by our data.

"Since the roll-out of Universal Credit in Sittingbourne, the foodbank has seen an increase of more than 75% in referrals.

"Everyone who comes to us is referred by a frontline professional, such as a health visitor or Citizens Advice worker, who assesses whether someone is in need.

"The biggest reason for referral are issues with a benefit payment.

"Universal Credit isn’t the only benefit people are having problems with, but it is a significant factor.

“No one in Sittingbourne should need a foodbank’s help."

Mr Henderson's speech, in full, although parts were left out due to the five-minute limit rule:

Today I made a speech in the House of Commons during the Opposition Day debate on Universal Credit. Please find below my speech in full, however, it is worth pointing out that because of a five minutes time limit on speeches imposed by the Speaker I had to leave parts of it out :

Mr Speaker, my constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey has been operating Universal Credit Full Service since January this year, so I like to think I know something about how it is actually being delivered at grass roots and the effect it is having on those of my constituents who are claiming it.

Let me begin by saying that UC is not perfect, but then no benefit system we have ever had in this country has been perfect.

UC certainly replaced a legacy system that was deeply flawed and offered no incentive for people to work.

It is true to say that despite a number of improvements made to UC since its roll-out started, it still has a number of faults, and I will come to those later.

But it is certainly not the disaster caricatured by some Hon and Rt. Hon members opposite.

Mr Speaker, for some time the Labour Party has been busy whipping up opposition to UC, criticising it at every opportunity.

However, those continual criticisms are not only a metaphorical two-fingered insult to the incredibly hard-working staff in my local DWP offices, who are delivering an excellent service to my constituents, but are misleading the public and frightening some very vulnerable people.

Of course, the introduction of any new system can be problematic, and I too had concerns about how it would affect people in my area when it was rolled out in my constituency.

So to find out I visited my local jobcentres and sat down with the staff to go through with them their plans to ensure that none of those claimants moving from the legacy system to UC would be disadvantaged.

I was impressed with the commitment and enthusiasm of the staff and was satisfied they would be prioritising those claimants who were the most vulnerable.

I urged staff to contact me should they come in contact with anybody they were unable to help because of the system itself, and I promised to take up with DWP ministers those problems.

No such problems have been referred to me by the jobcentres.

Members opposite often quote concerns raised by Citizens Advice Bureaux about the impact of UC on local people.

Well, I visited my local Citizens Advice Bureaux and suggested that they worked closely with my office to identify people with a UC problem so they could be helped.

I did the same thing with a local Church group that contacted me expressing concerns about UC.

In addition, I used social media to ask people to contact me if they were facing difficulties because of UC, or if they knew of somebody facing difficulties.

I have only had a handful of people referred to me since we went live in January and all of the problems raised were resolved quickly by my staff.

The Opposition has also made much of the use of foodbanks and so I would like to touch on that issue.

My first experience of foodbanks in my constituency was when our local steelworks closed down and some of the workers were left without any money to buy food for their families.

There was a long delay in getting those people the financial help they needed and to which they were entitled.

That delay did not arise under UC, but under the legacy benefit system.

Mr Speaker, we hear repeated claims from the benches opposite that the transition to UC has forced more people to use foodbanks.

So to check that claim, last week I went to visit a foodbank in my constituency to find out for myself.

The volunteers who run that foodbank are wonderful people for whom I have the utmost respect, as are the volunteers that run the other foodbanks in my constituency.

They too claim that some of the people who used the foodbank were forced to do so because of difficulties they faced when claiming UC.

When I pressed them about those difficulties, they said one was the requirement for claims to be made online.

Some of people claimed they either weren’t computer literate or didn’t have access to a computer.

I pointed out that such people could visit the local jobcentre, where they would be able to use one of the bank of computers installed there.

In addition they would be helped to navigate the system by a member of staff or a volunteer from one of the voluntary organisations that are now based in the jobcentre.

Of course, there were people who faced other difficulties, so, I asked the foodbank to provide me with details of those people, so that I could get somebody to contact them to investigate and take up their cases with the DWP.

When we received that information, we discovered that many of the people were living in a local hostel that provides temporary accommodation for homeless adults.

A member of my staff contacted the people concerned and it soon became obvious that some of them suffered from underlying problems that affected their ability to manage the transition to UC and forced them into using the foodbank.

Those problems included drug addiction, alcoholism, mental health problems, an inability to manage money, or plain fecklessness.

Automatically blaming their problems on UC, which is what the Opposition appear to be doing, is doing those people no favours.

If somehow the delivery of UC could be made perfect overnight, that would not make them any less dependent on drugs or alcohol.

It would not solve their mental health problems.

It would not help them manage their money better and it would not make them less feckless.

Of course, we have to do something to help those people, but the truth is they would still have had those same problems whatever benefits system was put in place.

Luckily such people are in the minority.

However, there are other people who have genuine concerns about aspects of the system.

Which leads me nicely to the faults in the system I mentioned at the beginning of my speech.

Number one concern is the five weeks’ delay in the receipt of the first benefit payment made under UC.

Now I understand that aspect was introduced to ensure that people of benefits get used to receiving money monthly, as they would if they were working.

But, of course, people who have been on long term benefits, as many in my constituency have been, are not used to managing their money other than on a weekly basis and it is difficult for them to wait five weeks

Of course, they are able to get an advance payment, but some people are simply not capable of managing that money well enough to make it last for five weeks.

I know of cases where claimants spend all their money in the first week and then have to resort to foodbanks for the remaining weeks.

With that in mind, I would urge ministers to look at whether it would be possible to phase in receipt of the five-week payment over a longer period to allow people to better prepare for it.

The second problem is the repayment requirement for an advance payment. Some people find it difficult to manage on what remains of their benefits when one twelfth of what they owe is taken from their monthly payment.

Would ministers consider extending the repayment term to two years?

The third problem is that under the legacy system claimants were provided with a letter confirming what benefits they were receiving.

Under UC they are only provided with an online journal. Unfortunately, when they present a screen print of the journal as proof they are on benefits, it is not accepted.

So, I would be grateful if that could be looked at.

And the final problem is something I am taking up with NHS England. It is that UC is not included as a tick box on the back of prescriptions.

This means that either a patient on UC wanting to get a free prescription, has to lie by ticking the wrong box, which then results in a fine, or they cannot get that prescription.

I would urge my Rt. Hon friend to encourage her Rt. Hon friend the Health Secretary to have that change made as soon as possible.

Mr Speaker, as a Member of this House I take very seriously my responsibility to look after those who are least able to look after themselves.

However, I support the Government in trying to encourage people into work, by having a benefits system that makes it possible for them to do that without being worse off, which is what happened too often under the legacy system.

I am confident the handful of problems I have raised can been addressed and the system can be improved without undermining its guiding principles.

Mr Speaker, Universal Credit is already working in Sittingbourne and Sheppey. There is no reason why it cannot work in other constituencies as it is rolled out across the country.