"I have to pay tribute to the Chancellor because despite seeing an unprecedented surge in claims to the UC system, without the interventions that he put in place such as the furlough scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme, there's absolutely no doubt that it would have been many millions more.

"So we have to pay tribute to the Chancellor for being quick in terms of putting those schemes in."

Addressing the temporary £20 per week Universal Credit uplift, which runs until March next year, he continued: "All those on Universal Credit will have that increase to the standard allowance and the security of that through til the spring next year, so the end of March, early April.

"But what I would say - because I know there's lots of people, charities and others that are rightly raising questions about this with me about what's going to happen post then - throughout this crisis, the Chancellor has always made sure that he has looked after the most vulnerable in our society.

"But I think what he has rightly said, is, 'Look, let's get to that point.' See where we are in the spring of next year, the early part of next year.

"Where we are with the economy, where we are with health restrictions, where we are with the vaccine and then let him have the time to make the decision about how best to support people who need help," Mr Quince said, "So he's able to make a clear decision next year.

DON'T MISS

Mr Quince went on to state the temporary measure costs around £6billion for the year.

Following a wealth of calls for the Chancellor to extend the uplift, Express.co.uk asked whether, if the covid crisis continues, the government would commit to an extension.

"I think the Chancellor has been clear that he hasn't taken the decision and all options are on the table," Mr Quince replied.

"But he initially brought in what was a temporary measure for 12 months and he's been clear, and I think he said this as such in the recent statement as part of the Spending Review, that in the early part of the new year, he's going to review this in the broader context and then make a decision."

Mr Quince pointed out "people do have the security of those payments through the spring next year, so through to the end of March, early April".

"And the Chancellor is going to take a decision," he added. "But what I would say is, both myself and indeed the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions are working really closely with the Treasury, discussing all of these issues.

Paying tribute to DWP employees, he remarked on how "the teams across the DWP have worked so hard over the course of the past 12 months in particular since the height of the pandemic".

"The Prime Minister has rightly recognised them because they have been quite actually incredible," Mr Quince said.

"Universal Credit has stood up to the challenge, if you like, of COVID-19. It has responded really effectively to the surge in new claims. But I think it's only one piece of the jigsaw.

"Having that sort of modern, agile, dynamic system has meant we have been able to process an unprecedented number of claims in what is just an incredibly short period of time.

"But behind of that, of course, are the very very many - tens of thousands - of DWP employees who very very quickly changed what they were doing and focused on the processing of claims. So it's very much a team effort between the system that has risen to the challenge and worked, and incredible DWP staff who have been really resilient and really gone the extra mile to make sure that people have been paid their benefits as quickly as possible, in full and on time.

"To give you an idea of numbers, we have processed over 3.7 million new claims since the middle of March and that is around six times the volume that we would typically receive. So there's now about 3.8 million people on Universal Credit."