The Public Accounts Committee has criticised the government for achieving ‘very little progress’ on its universal credits programme, which aimed to simply the benefits system by merging a string of working-age benefits and tax credits into one single payment.
PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP said: ‘The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on universal credit since the programme began in 2010. However, very little progress has been achieved on the front line. Fewer than 18,000 people were claiming universal credit by October 2014, out of around seven million expected in the longer term – just 0.3% of the eligible population.
‘The IT infrastructure for universal credit continues to be of particular concern. The department has spent £344m with suppliers developing its “live” service systems for claimants who have straightforward initial claims which do not involve all six benefits, yet it expects to re-use just £34m worth of this IT in the longer term … The DWP must set out clearly what it has really gained from its spending so far, including from the piloting of the programme, and from the investment in live service IT systems.’
The Public Accounts Committee has criticised the government for achieving ‘very little progress’ on its universal credits programme, which aimed to simply the benefits system by merging a string of working-age benefits and tax credits into one single payment.
PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP said: ‘The Department for Work and Pensions has spent £700m on universal credit since the programme began in 2010. However, very little progress has been achieved on the front line. Fewer than 18,000 people were claiming universal credit by October 2014, out of around seven million expected in the longer term – just 0.3% of the eligible population.
‘The IT infrastructure for universal credit continues to be of particular concern. The department has spent £344m with suppliers developing its “live” service systems for claimants who have straightforward initial claims which do not involve all six benefits, yet it expects to re-use just £34m worth of this IT in the longer term … The DWP must set out clearly what it has really gained from its spending so far, including from the piloting of the programme, and from the investment in live service IT systems.’
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