UNIVERSAL Credit staff were given a "deflection script" to encourage callers to get off the phone.

The leaked document, which has been published by Sky News, advised staff to ask why the caller is getting in touch early on as it "may open up an opportunity to deflect the caller online".

The scripts were put together in November 2016 in a bid to cut down on the thousands of claimants calling with troubles managing their accounts online.

Universal Credit is managed electronically via a journal where claimants can update their personal information if circumstances change and discuss queries with staff.

But, through The Sun's Make Universal Credit Work campaign, we've heard from hundreds of claimants who have waited days or even weeks before getting an answer to their questions.

Five call centres took part in a two-week pilot scheme last year, according to the document, in Blackpool, Canterbury, Middlesbrough, Belfast and Bristol.

During the trial, call managers listened into the conversations between handlers and claimants to see if the scripts actually helped getting people to use their online accounts.

It read: "Encourage staff to ask what the claimant is calling for at the beginning of the call rather than moving straight into the security questions this may open up an opportunity to deflect the caller online. "

One million people are already on Universal Credit, claiming payments such as child benefit, tax credits, housing benefit, income support and jobseekers' allowance.

At least seven million Brits are expected to be on the system when it's fully rolled out in 2030.

In October last year, Citizens Advice was handed £39million by the DWP to support Brits with their application to make sure they get their first payment on time.

Labour MP Danielle Rowley slammed the practice for being "outrageous" after she obtained the scripts from the Department for Work and Pensions.

She said she wasn't surprised by the advice to call centre workers and that it reflected what many of her Midlothian constituents had described to her about feeling rushed off the phone when they call for help.

She added: "For someone who has had to phone the Universal Credit helpline, who has been really needing some help - needing someone to listen to them - and they've just been passed around and told to use their online account which they might not be able to do.

"Seeing this is really frustrating and they feel like their experience has almost been covered up."

The script did emphasis that it was not launched as a formal script but should be uses as a prompter.

A DWP spokesperson said: "As a matter of course we don't comment on leaked documents.

"There has never been a policy to hurry callers off the phone and accusations that this is the case are completely false.

"Call handlers are encouraged to spend as much time as necessary on the phone and remind claimants that they are able to complete certain activities online where appropriate."

The DWP has previously denied using scripts to manage Universal Credit claimants, despite what one whistleblower who worked for the department told The Sun.

Universal Credit is the Government's flagship new benefits system that rolls six payments into one - but it's been plagued with problems since it's roll out five years ago.

Hard-up Brits applying for Universal Credit face a five week wait without cash before receiving their first payment.

We're calling for the wait time to be slashed to two weeks to avoid plunging millions of vulnerable people further into debt.

The wages of working families is also hit hard by the taper rate which deducts 63p from your benefits payment for every £1 you earn over the £198 work allowance - we want this dropped to 50p.

Parents trying to get back into work are entitled to claim up to 85 per cent of childcare costs but will only get the cash back in arrears - but we want the welfare state to fund these costs upfront.