Benefits Shake-up: Universal Credit Begins

Benefits Shake-Up: Universal Credit Begins


The coalition's roll-out of a new all-inclusive payout as
part of its welfare reforms is expected to be greeted with protests.


6:44am UK,
Monday 29 April 2013

The new scheme will start in four
Jobcentres

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  The Government's shake-up of the welfare system starts today with
  the launch of a new all-inclusive payout to replace a string of benefits
  including jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit.
  
  Universal Credit will be introduced in four local Jobcentres in selected
  areas of Ashton-under-Lyne, Oldham, Warrington and Wigan.
  
  Those living in Ashton-under-Lyne will claim the new benefit from today while
  in the other three areas other elements of Universal Credit will be
  trialled.
  
  Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith described the new benefit as
  part of a "fundamental cultural shift" of the welfare system.
  
  He said: "This will revolutionise the way people experience the welfare
  state.
  
  "It will make it easier for people to claim what they are entitled to, but
  more importantly it will make it easier for people to move off benefits and into
  work.
  
  "This is the first step on a long journey and the pathfinder is our
  opportunity to get Universal Credit right.
  
  "We will bring in this radical and vital reform in a careful and controlled
  way."
  
  But the launch is expected to be opposed by unions who say that the
  Government should rethink Universal Credit and prioritise creating jobs and
  supporting people into them instead of "demonising" those out of work and
  entitled to benefits.
  Iain Duncan Smith says welfare system is
  undergoing a 'cultural shift'
  Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents staff in
  Jobcentres, said it will stage a protest at Ashton-under-Lyne.
  
  PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "If Universal Credit was being
  introduced to genuinely make life easier for people entitled to benefits it
  would be commendable, but the Government's pernicious language exposes its real
  intent is to demonise and punish them.
  
  "We have shown that ministers are prepared to mislead and misdirect to drive
  through their welfare cuts, so we are challenging Iain Duncan Smith and others
  to prove what they claim is true.
  
  "The next time a minister says people are better off on benefits than in
  work, give them a pen and paper and ask them to show you how."
  
  The Universal Credit system will be rolled out from October nationally, with
  completion due in 2017.
  
  Around 7,000 people are expected to get the payout during the initial
  period.
  
  Universal Credit will replace income-based jobseeker's allowance,
  income-related employment and support allowance, income support, working tax
  credit, child tax credit, and housing benefit.
  
  Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud said: "The start of Universal Credit
  today is a big step forward.
  
  "We are finally implementing a benefit system that is fairer, where claimants
  will be better off in work than on benefits.
  
  "We are introducing Universal Credit in a slow and safe manner so that we get
  this important reform right and help more people move smoothly from benefits and
  into work."
  

FIRST PAGE OF WEBSITE HAS SPELLING MISTAKES

THERE WAS A REPORT THAT THERE AARE PROBLEMSWITH POSSIBLE IMPLETION(SP?) OF UC COMPUTER SYSTEM,IDEA THAT IT COULD BE ABANDONEDC.

Did you know that the EU are taking Britain to court over benefits for immigrants not bing given the same rights off claiming as the British born people.


In other words.....any immigrant that enters the country has a right to claim as soon as they set foot off the plane and yet the EU are saying that they don't have the same equal rights as a British citizen...and they should.

Can you believe it.

kitti wrote:Did you know that the EU are taking Britain to court over benefits for immigrants not bing given the same rights off claiming as the British born people.


In other words.....any immigrant that enters the country has a right to claim as soon as they set foot off the plane and yet the EU are saying that they don't have the same equal rights as a British citizen...and they should.

Can you believe it.

Morning kitti, yes, I read the article. Apparently an Italian Woman was working in Britain for about 18 months, paid her NI and tax which she thought entitled her to Benefit which under our rules said she wasn't . Why oh why didn't Cameron have the nerve to call for a referendum NOW!!!!

What happened to the 'credit' card which would have the benefit money credited to it but the card can only be used to buy food - no alcoholic drinks or cigarettes.

tigger wrote:What happened to the 'credit' card which would have the benefit money credited to it but the card can only be used to buy food - no alcoholic drinks or cigarettes.

That's not a bad idea tigger if you can only buy food !!! Saves the NHS costs in future when all these alcoholic smoke infested lungs give out.
In the US, they issue food stamps .

ITS BEING SAID THAT THERE ARE PROBLEMS WITH IMPLETIMING UC,COMPUTER PROBLEMS ETC

I READ SEVERAL DAYS AGO THAT THE OCTOBER START OF UC HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
FINAL IMPLETION(SP?) OF UC ;2017 OR FURTHUR ON,AT THIS RATE EVERYONE ON THIS BOARD AT THE MOMENT WAITING FOR THIS TO HAPPEN WILL HAVE DIED OFF.

ON FRONT PAGE OF TODAY'S GUARDIAN,SAYING THAT STAFF IMPLETING(SP?) THE COMPUTER SYSTEM DOUBT IT CAN BE DONE IN TIME OR AT ALL
SOME THINK IT IS A WASTE OF HUNDREDS OF MILLION OF POUNDS TO SPEND ON WHICH MIGHT NEVER BE IMPLETED(SP?).
WONDER WHAT THEY WOULD DO IF IT WAS A FAILURE

I JUST HEARD ON RADIO THAT THE COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR UNIVERSAL CREDIT HAS BEEN SCRAPED.
WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.

Badboy wrote:I JUST HEARD ON  RADIO THAT THE COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR UNIVERSAL CREDIT HAS BEEN SCRAPED.
WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT.

Yes Badboy it has:-

Universal Credit Scheme Hit By £34m BlundersThe coalition's flagship welfare policy is savaged by the spending watchdog for bad management and poor value for money.9:15am UK, Thursday 05 September 2013 Video: Welfare Reform Policy Slammed
Enlarge The Work and Pensions Secretary tells Sky News universal credit is now back on track after some problems in 2011 and 2012.
Video: Iain Duncan Smith defends universal credit
Enlarge EmailThe coalition's flagship welfare policy is overambitious, badly managed and has wasted £34m of taxpayers' money, according to a damning report.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the move to universal credit had been beset by "weak management, ineffective control and poor governance".

The policy combines six key means-tested benefits into a single payment and is aimed at ensuring people are always better off in work than on the dole.

Currently being piloted before a national roll-out, it should be in place by 2017 and officials estimate it will save £38bn in administration, fraud and error costs by 2023.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is driving through the overhaul as part of his radical welfare reforms and insists it will be delivered "on time and on budget".

But the NAO's report suggested the Government embarked on the policy without considering how it would work, which meant it had not achieved "value for money" up to April this year.

Of the £303m spent on IT, £34m has been written off and the systems still had "limited functionality", it found.

They could not identify potentially fraudulent claims, prompting manual checks which will be impossible when the policy is rolled out.


'A titanic-sized IT disaster': Liam Bryne

"Throughout the programme, the department has lacked a detailed view of how universal credit is meant to work," the report said.

"The department was warned repeatedly about the lack of a detailed 'blueprint', 'architecture' or 'target operating model' for universal credit."

It also raised doubts about the 2017 deadline, warning delays had made this much harder to achieve and that it would involve shifting large numbers onto the new system quickly with little time for error.

NAO head Amyas Morse said: "The department's plans for universal credit were driven by an ambitious timescale, and this led to the adoption of a systems development approach new to the department.

"The relatively high risk trajectory was not, however, matched by an appropriate management approach. Instead, the programme suffered from weak management, ineffective control and poor governance."

Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge warned: "If the department doesn't get its act together, we could be on course for yet another catastrophic government IT failure.

"This damning indictment from the NAO gives me no confidence that we will see the £38bn of predicted benefits between 2010-11 and 2022-23."

And shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne said: "Universal Credit is a titanic-sized IT disaster which Iain Duncan Smith has tried to hide with cover-up after cover-up.

"Mr Duncan Smith swore blind this benefit shake-up was fine. Now we learn he has completely lost control of his department at a potential cost of hundreds of millions of pounds."

The Work and Pensions Secretary admitted the NAO's criticism was right but argued it referred to problems in 2011 and 2012, which he had stepped in to sort out.

He told Sky News: "In the past, under the last government, there were huge failures like the IT programme for the health department and in my own department the changes to the child support agency.

"The key point I am making here is never before have ministers intervened to change what is going on. I have done that, we have reset this.

"It is still being developed, it is still being ready for roll out and will be rolled out in time and in budget."

Howard Shiplee, who oversaw construction of the London Olympic facilities, was brought in to lead the project in May and also insisted the challenges are now being "handled".

"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," he told the Daily Telegraph.

The NAO said the policy could still "achieve considerable benefits" as long as lessons are learned and realistic plans for a national roll-out are now put in place.

Related Stories
Welfare Reforms 'Chaos' Attacked By Labour

the inability to identify fraudulent claims could increase benefit fraud,sounds as if uc will make things worse.
whose will get me off this turbulent system?

Home»Comment»Telegraph ViewGood work at risk
Universal Credit is a lesson in how not to handle a major public sector project

Iain Duncan Smith introduced the Universal Credit welfare reforms Photo: Geoff Pugh
By Telegraph View
8:08PM BST 04 Sep 2013
71 Comments
The remarkable success of the Government’s crackdown on welfare has been obscured by Parliament’s recent preoccupation with foreign affairs. Official figures published last Thursday showed that the proportion of UK households where no adult aged 16 to 64 is in work is at its lowest since comparable records began in 1996. The fall of more than 400,000 since 2010 reflects the slow improvement of the economy and, above all, the imposition of tighter conditions on claiming benefit.

However, there is a real danger that this good work will be undone by the ham-fisted way in which the Coalition’s flagship welfare policy – the single Universal Credit – is being introduced. A report today from the National Audit Office (NAO) suggests that the programme risks becoming an object lesson in how not to handle a major public sector project – which is all the more reprehensible given the many similar schemes that have gone wrong before. While such a far-reaching reform was always going to be difficult to implement, it is hard to comprehend the incompetence exposed by the NAO: it found that the Department for Work and Pensions even “lacked a detailed view of how Universal Credit is meant to work”.

The thinking behind Universal Credit is laudable: to simplify an overly complex tax credits system and make it worthwhile for people to return to work, thus reducing the numbers mired in dependency and cutting the cost to the public purse. But it has been dogged by unrealistic expectations, top-heavy management, poorly defined policy objectives and ludicrously ambitious timetables. A team of troubleshooters is trying to put things right. But if it is not going to work, the Government should stop it and think again, lest the advances made in rolling back the welfare state are placed in jeopardy.

I WORKED OUT YEARS AGO THAT A LOT OF THESE BIG IT PROJECTS SEEMED TO EVENTUALY HAVE PROBLEMS IMPLETINED(SP?) THEM.
MY UNIVERSITY OF LIFE LEARNING TELLS ME THAT SUCH PROJECTS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT.

Badboy wrote:I WORKED OUT YEARS AGO THAT A LOT OF THESE BIG IT PROJECTS SEEMED TO EVENTUALY HAVE PROBLEMS IMPLETINED(SP?) THEM.
MY UNIVERSITY OF LIFE LEARNING TELLS ME THAT SUCH PROJECTS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO IMPLEMENT.

This is a huge programme Badboy and we all know Computers have a mind of their own ....well I do anyway.LOL With so many benefits being paid by different Departments , probably on differnet days, it will be a nightmare to monitor.

ITS BEING SAID THAT THE DWP HAS HAD ITS BUDDGET CUT BACK SO MUCH THAT IT MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT THE CHANGES GOVERNMENT WANT.

I have heard THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE HAD THEIR BENEFITS STOPPED FOR CURIOUS REASONS,ONE BECAUSE HE WAS SELLING THINGS ON EBAY SO HE COULD BUY FOOD,TOLD YOU ARE SELF-EMPLOYED IF YOU SELL THING ON EBAY.
ANOTHER HAD BENEFITS STOPPED BECAUSE HE PUT POST CODE IN CAPITALS.

ONLY ABOUT 3,500 PEOPLE ARE ON UNIVERSAL CREDIT.

ALMOST 5,000 PEOPLE ARE ON UNIVERAL CREDIT,IT WAS REPORTED YESTERDAY.
BY 2018,HOPEFULLY EVERYONE WILL BE ON IT.

Badboy wrote:ALMOST 5,000 PEOPLE ARE ON UNIVERAL CREDIT,IT WAS REPORTED YESTERDAY.
BY 2018,HOPEFULLY EVERYONE WILL BE ON IT.

If enough credits are obtainable even our elected leaders will be trying for some.. But I think it will fail, perhaps even made to fail and a 'new' system will be 'trialled' long before 2018.

Call me old fashioned if you like but i would have thought it's a much better ambition to get back to work.

You can dress up the benefits system however you like but working gives people a purpose and restores a bit of pride.

Most people who are out of work should be working.

There are very few people regardless of circumstances and disabilities who should not have the opportunity to work.

I couldn't agree more Lioned... Sadly our leaders and industrialists prefer to send our country's material assets abroad where labour is availble for peanuts. America was doing the same, but I believe some US companies are now pulling out of China and other eastern nations because of poor workmanship and dangerous goods being produced.

It's about time our parlimentary representatives ordered the reverse of the flow of 'British' goods being produced in foreign lands and returned our workforce to full employment. Perhaps then as you suggest there would be little reason for millions claiming welfare benefits except in the most exceptional of circumstances.

Lioned wrote:Call me old fashioned if you like but i would have thought it's a much better ambition to get back to work.

You can dress up the benefits system however you like but working gives people a purpose and restores a bit of pride.

Most people who are out of work should be working.

There are very few people regardless of circumstances and disabilities who should not have the opportunity to work.

AGREED,I HAVE WROTE DOWN SOME POSSIBLE WEBSITES TO SET UP WHEN/IF THEY ASK ME WHAT THEY CAN HELP ME WITH.

UNIVERSAL CREDIT IS GO!
TOMORROW ITS ALL SYSTEMS GO!
IT IS BEING SAID UNIVERSAL CREDIT HAS GOT MORE PEOLE INTO WORK THAN PREVIOUS BENEFITS.