Spending watchdogs have delivered a scathing verdict on Government attempts to launch Universal Credit (UC), after it emerged £140m of IT spending on the flagship welfare programme will have to be written off.

A Public Accounts Committee report issued today finds implementation by the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) – to amalgamate six different benefits into a monthly welfare payment – has been ‘extraordinarily poor'.

The MPs said a ‘shocking absence of control' gave one personal assistant permission to approve a £22.6m purchase order.

While £425m had been spent so far on the programme, at least £140m of IT assets would have to be written off, the PAC found.

In a damning report, the PAC claimed DWP had failed to properly understand the enormity of the task, properly monitor progress or intervene effectively when problems arose.

Senior managers only became aware of problems thanks to ‘ad-hoc reviews', which allowed early warning signs to be missed.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, attacked the DWP for adopting a ‘fortress culture' which saw it reporting only good news and denying problems.

MPs said they anticipated UC would not hit current targets of enrolling 184,000 claimants by April 2014.

The PAC also concluded the pilot programme remained ‘inadequate' and had failed to deal with issues such as the volume of claims or their complexity.

‘Universal Credit is the DWP's single biggest programme and enjoys cross-party support, yet its implementation has been extraordinarily poor,' Ms Hodge said.

‘The failure to develop a comprehensive plan has led to extensive delay and the waste of a yet to be determined amount of public money,' she added.

Peter Riddell, director of the influential Whitehall think-tank the Institute for Government said the report told ‘a sorry story about unclear management structures and responsibility for a major government project that affects the public in a very real way'.

‘Clearly the immediate responsibility for the oversight and management of Universal Credit lies squarely with the permanent secretary,' Mr Riddell added.

The DWP said it expects UC to bring a £38bn economic benefit to society and affirmed it had already taken action to strengthen governance and supplier management.

A DWP spokesperson said: ‘Universal Credit is a vital reform that rewards work instead of trapping people on benefits.

‘We don't recognise the write-off figure quoted by the committee and expect this to be substantially less.'