Church critics say welfare cuts 'unjust' 31 March 2013 Last updated at 04:32 Four churches have joined forces to accuse the government of welfare payment cuts they say are unjust and target society's most vulnerable. The Easter criticism has come from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist and United Reformed Churches, and the Church of Scotland. They also want to see a change in the public's perception of poverty. The government responded by saying society suffered when people were paid more to be unemployed than to work. Rising costs The churches accuse politicians and parts of the media of making the cuts easier to impose by misrepresenting poor people as lazy, despite the fact that the majority of people in poverty are in work. Their criticism echoes that made by Anglican bishops last week that the government's proposed changes to welfare would force the poorest families to bear the increasing costs of food, fuel and housing. They claim that if increases in benefits were pegged below the rate of inflation, real terms cuts in income would be imposed on families already struggling to make ends meet. The Department for Work and Pensions has said it was unfair for benefit claimants to get higher incomes, sometimes more than double, that of families who were employed. Seventy organisations involved in the benefits system have previously raised concerns about a government overhaul of it. The Universal Credit aims to make the system simpler by replacing five work-based benefits with one benefit. Pilot delays The groups, which represent councils, charities, trades unions, business groups and housing organisations, are worried about new monthly payments, access to an online system and whether IT will be ready. Ministers say the online system replaces a "costly, outdated" one and the benefit is set to come in on time. They describe Universal Credit as "the most radical redesign of the benefits system this country has ever seen," saying it pays people to work rather than claim benefits. The government is to scale back some of its plans to test Universal Credit. Ministers planned to allow people to make the new claims in four areas of north-west England from April. But it has emerged that three of the pilots will not start until July. The government said this would allow "safe and controlled" testing but Labour said the Universal Credit was "on the edge of disaster" because IT systems needed for it were not ready.