DWP website included 'striptease artist' in list of jobs claimants could search for

Role appeared alongside bingo assistants, astrologers and lobby attendants

Universal Credit is replacing previous benefits and requires internet access (Getty)

Universal credit claimants looking for employment have been advised to search for roles including "striptease artist" by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The government website – now temporarily down – is used by those claiming the benefit, to discover roles to match their "skills and interests".

But, according to Huff Post, the department listed a "striptease artist" alongside jobs such as a bingo assistants, astrologers, and lobby attendants in its "elementary service occupation" roles.

It advised claimants to input such job titles as they search online for employment, adding the roles require no formal academic qualifications, with typical pay being around £350 for a 42-working hour week.

In the section "kind of work you'd do", it lists various responsibilities, including: "Dances in adult entertainment establishments".

The posting was criticised by Daphne Hall, the vice chair of the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers, who said it was "completely inappropriate that the government should be pushing people towards these jobs which could lead to a possible link to the sex industry".

The webpage has been since been taken down, and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) admitted the posting was inappropriate when alerted to it.

A spokesperson for the DWP said: "This is inappropriate and we will immediately review this to determine why it is mistakenly listed. This is not the type of employment our work coaches help people into, and since 2010 more than 75 per cent of all new jobs created are high-skilled and full-time."

They continued: "More than two million households are now in receipt of universal credit and it is working for our the vast majority of people, replacing an outdated benefit system that trapped people on welfare."

The department added, however, that information on job types and examples are automatically filled on its own pages from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).