This overview report provides an assessment of social policy developments under the three...
Universal credit
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04/03/2020
Universal Credit, Employment and Mental Health
The Government claimed that Universal Credit would reduce unemployment by 200,000 and save the tax-payer £8 billion.
On the 7th June 2018, Esther McVey (The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) told parliament that: "Universal Credit is forecast to incentivise 200,000 more people to take employment than would have under the previous system and deliver £8bn of benefits to the UK economy per year." (see here)
Category: News stories -
05/12/2013
Universal credit ‘will miss 2017 deadline’ – IDS
The full nationwide roll-out of the coalition government’s new universal credit system is not now expected to meet the 2017 target, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has said. The admission came at the end of a written statement slipped out on the same day as the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.
Under the original timetable, one million people were to have been switched to universal credit by the end of 2014. But the plan has been hit by information technology problems, and the DWP now says it will delay the roll-out until testing of new systems is complete. Most existing benefit claimants will still have been moved over to universal credit during 2016 and 2017 – but it is expected that there will still be some claiming the old benefits into 2018.
Category: News stories -
06/11/2013
Claimants ‘not ready’ for universal credit
Many people will struggle to deal with the changes required of them under the new universal credit system without extra support, according to the findings of a survey carried out by the Citizens Advice charity. The survey was carried out among Citizens Advice Bureaux clients in the new benefit’s pilot areas.
Category: Reports -
23/10/2013
Tenants ‘lack knowledge’ over benefits changes
More than four out of ten social housing tenants know very little or nothing about the coalition government's controversial 'bedroom tax' policy or how it will affect them, according to a survey carried out for Viridian housing association in London and the south east.
Ipsos MORI conducted a survey of 201 residents (including 101 identified as being affected by the bedroom tax), together with 15 single/paired in-depth interviews with residents affected by the policy. Research was undertaken in April and May 2013, a month after the tax was introduced. The survey explored tenants' experiences, attitudes and behaviour in respect of the bedroom tax and other reforms to the benefits system.Category: Reports -
02/10/2013
‘More than 2.7m’ will struggle with universal credit
More than 2.7 million benefit recipients think they will struggle to make sense of their payment options when universal credit is introduced, according to estimates by the Payments Council, the organisation responsible for overseeing the bank and card transfers system. The Payments Council surveyed 6,097 adults in Great Britain over the period between 28 August and 5 September 2013.
When universal credit is introduced most people will receive their benefits once a month, rather than weekly or fortnightly.Category: Reports -
11/09/2013
Tax and benefit reforms ‘strengthen work incentives’
The coalition government's tax and benefit reforms will have the overall effect of strengthening people's incentives to work, according to a new paper from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The paper looks at reforms implemented, or due to be implemented, over the period 2010–2015.
Category: Reports -
03/09/2013
Universal credit ‘missteps’
Planned reforms to the benefits system have been hampered by a series of 'missteps', the man charged with overseeing the introduction of universal credit has admitted. His remarks were made in an article published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Howard Shiplee, the director-general for universal credit in the Department for Work and Pensions, detailed the problems he has encountered since being hired. He said: 'It’s clear to me there were examples of poor project management in the past, a lack of transparency where the focus was too much on what was going well and not enough on what wasn’t and with suppliers not managed as they should have been'. But he went on to claim these errors have been put right and that the DWP now has a deliverable plan. 'I am confident we are now back on course and the challenges are being handled', he says.Category: Reports -
24/08/2013
Childcare support ‘skewed’ to better-off
The extra support for childcare costs proposed by the government is skewed towards wealthier households, even among those who will qualify for universal credit, according to a new report from the Resolution Foundation think tank.
Category: Reports -
21/08/2013
Labour says universal credit ‘in serious trouble’
The coalition government’s benefit reforms are plunging into 'chaos', according to Liam Byrne, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary. In a speech in London he said the so-called 'welfare revolution' promised by the coalition was clearly in 'very, very serious trouble'. He pointed to failed reform of disability benefits, ineffective back-to-work programmes and looming problems over the bedroom tax. He claimed that complaints, delays and additional claimant numbers caused by bungled benefit changes had so far cost the public purse £1.4 billion.
Category: News stories -
25/07/2013
Universal credit pilots – early problem signs
A series of problems have been identified in the early implementation of the new universal credit system. The problems are highlighted in a report from the Department for Work and Pensions' own universal credit evaluation team, which seeks to draw lessons from local authority-led pilots of potential ways to support claimants.
Category: Reports
