Politics

DWP Universal Credit rollout could take until 2026 after yet another delay


The Tories’ disaster-struck rollout of Universal Credit could take until 2026, the Budget watchdog warned today after yet another delay to the system.

The six-in-one benefit was originally hoped to be complete with all existing and new claimants using it by 2017.

Yet after failing about a dozen different timetables drawn up by either watchdogs or the government, its finish date was delayed again last month to September 2024.

Now the independent Office for Budget Responsibility has given a damning verdict on the delays.

The OBR today said its working assumption is now that Universal Credit will only finish rolling out in September 2026 – 16 years after it was first dreamed up by the Tories.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood said: “This damning judgement from the OBR shows just how badly Universal Credit has failed.

“In February the Government put back the end date by six months; now the OBR estimates that it will be delayed by as much as another two years.

There have been repeated delays

“The Government should scrap Universal Credit and introduce a system that genuinely protects people from poverty rather than leaving them in debt, rent arrears or forced to turn to food banks to survive.”

The DWP announced last month’s delay after fewer people than forecast “migrated” onto the new six-in-one system, and almost a million more people than expected remain on the old system.

Claimants are usually only moved onto Universal Credit when there is a change in their circumstances – which could be a change in their employment status, a house move or a change in the benefits to which they are entitled.

DWP said fewer people than expected had seen a change in circumstances.

Previously, the OBR had assumed the rollout would take six months longer than the government said.

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But now there have been so many delays, the OBR has shifted its estimate to a full two years after the government’s end date.

“Our decision to diverge more materially from DWP’s plans reflects both the accumulated experience of the past seven years,” the OBR said, “and the greater emphasis on taking things slowly to protect claimants.”

The OBR added: “It has always been difficult to forecast the UC rollout given the ‘test and learn’ approach being taken, which is naturally more prone to delay than acceleration.

“Our six month assumption has repeatedly been overtaken by events, so we have chosen two years as a period around which we hope the risks will be more evenly balanced.”





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