Half-baked Tory welfare plans caused further outrage yesterday as new research suggested millions will struggle to manage their money when the Universal Credit scheme comes into effect.

Nearly three million benefit recipients will struggle with budgeting their finances, shrunk ever further by continuing Con-Dem cuts, according to the Payments Council, which is responsible for ensuring people receive social security payments.

Universal Credit will combine several benefits, including housing benefit, into one payment so that many claimants will receive a lump sum once a month rather than getting their money on a weekly or fortnightly basis as they do now.

The Payments Council found nearly half the benefit claimants they spoke to fear they will sink into debt or fall behind on rent once the reforms kick in.

The 1,500-person survey concluded that 2.7 million of the 5.7 million working-age people receiving benefits could fail to balance their budgets.

The council's chief executive Adrian Kamellard warned: "People will have to be savvier about managing their money and will have to plan for the whole month instead of budgeting on a weekly basis."

The news comes after a scathing National Audit Office report recently found that around £34 million has been wasted on IT systems set up to deal with the bungled reforms which have proved unsuitable.

The Major Projects Authority, a separate government trouble-shooter, also told MPs that another £200 million spent on IT for the scheme has probably gone to waste.

The criticisms follow previous warnings from the Circle Housing Group that people with restricted internet access are particularly in danger of falling into arrears, since most people will be expected to manage their claims online under the plans.

Department for Work and Pensions senior civil servant Robert Devereux has admitted that the controls in place for the programme are not "remotely acceptable."

Despite the debacle the public accounts committee was told last month that the troubled project could still be delivered by 2017 as planned.

But Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne described the disaster-hit scheme as a "write off."