Universal Credit delay

SIR – If, as David Gauke, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, claims (Letters, October 23), no one “who needs money” actually has to wait six weeks to get it under the new Universal Credit system, how is it that journalists investigating the issue find it so easy to locate examples of people who do have to wait – and who are clearly distressed by the experience?

I have yet to see a story about Universal Credit featuring someone in such circumstances who is prepared to say how well the system has worked for them. Whatever the aspirations of the scheme, we will not resolve the clear shortcomings of its introduction if we refuse to recognise them. Tony Fry

Ruthin, Denbighshire

SIR – When people in poverty are waiting for six weeks or more for money to which they are entitled, prison must seem like a more comfortable alternative, since one is at least provided with food, light and heat, as well as laptops and telephones. Deirdre Lay

Cranleigh, Surrey