The cost of delivering Iain Duncan Smith’s troubled Universal Credit
scheme is £225,000 for each person on it, it was claimed today.
The project has already cost the taxpayer £612million and has been dogged by delays and IT blunders.
Mr Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had promised one million people would be receiving their welfare payments under the scheme by April this year.
But figures show only 2,720 claimants have been transferred onto the Universal Credit so far - a cost of £225,000 per person.
The universal credit bundles together the six main benefits - jobseeker’s allowance, income support, employment and support allowance, working tax credit, child tax credit and housing benefit - into a single payment.
In September 2103, Mr Duncan Smith told Parliament it would be delivered “on time and within budget”.
But the roll-out has been delayed three times and is now only available under a small number of pilot schemes.
The Department of Work and Pensions has had to write off £130million in IT costs and it emerged this week that the executive brought in to rescue the project, Howard Shiplee, has been off sick for a month.
Shadow Welfare minister Chris Bryant MP said: “Iain Duncan Smith’s flagship policy has been plagued with delay after delay from the outset and millions of pounds have been wasted.
“We were once told Universal Credit would be on time and on budget and that a million people would be on the system by April this year, but this has come to nothing. It is staggering that the Government has spent £225,000 per person on this project.
“With poor initial decisions by Ministers and endless indecision from Downing Street putting the whole scheme in jeopardy, it is increasingly difficult to have any confidence in the Government’s handling of welfare.”
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The project has already cost the taxpayer £612million and has been dogged by delays and IT blunders.
Mr Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had promised one million people would be receiving their welfare payments under the scheme by April this year.
But figures show only 2,720 claimants have been transferred onto the Universal Credit so far - a cost of £225,000 per person.
The universal credit bundles together the six main benefits - jobseeker’s allowance, income support, employment and support allowance, working tax credit, child tax credit and housing benefit - into a single payment.
In September 2103, Mr Duncan Smith told Parliament it would be delivered “on time and within budget”.
But the roll-out has been delayed three times and is now only available under a small number of pilot schemes.
The Department of Work and Pensions has had to write off £130million in IT costs and it emerged this week that the executive brought in to rescue the project, Howard Shiplee, has been off sick for a month.
Shadow Welfare minister Chris Bryant MP said: “Iain Duncan Smith’s flagship policy has been plagued with delay after delay from the outset and millions of pounds have been wasted.
“We were once told Universal Credit would be on time and on budget and that a million people would be on the system by April this year, but this has come to nothing. It is staggering that the Government has spent £225,000 per person on this project.
“With poor initial decisions by Ministers and endless indecision from Downing Street putting the whole scheme in jeopardy, it is increasingly difficult to have any confidence in the Government’s handling of welfare.”
Read more...
