Computer says no: the people trapped in universal credit's 'black hole'

Vulnerable claimants already reporting problems, even before further DWP digital transformation

• Digital dystopia: how algorithms punish the poor

When the universal credit computer says no, fragile lives can quickly crumble.

Lucy Morris, a 32-year-old mother of one in Rochdale, was scraping by on her beauty therapist's wage topped up with UC when she failed to check a box on the benefit's online form and lost a 400 payment. It was enough to torpedo her finances and before long the heating was off, vegetables were dropped from meals and the house grew filthy because she could not afford cleaning products.