Universal credit scheme will waste at least £140m, say MPs

Iain Duncan Smith's flagship benefit reform has been severely criticised by MPs for failures that are expected to waste at least £140m of public money.

The universal credit scheme has been overseen by "alarmingly weak" management, with systems so lax that a secretary was allowed to authorise purchase orders worth £23m, according to the public accounts committee. In some cases it is unclear what suppliers have been paid for.

MPs also voiced doubts about whether the project can still be fully delivered by the deadline of 2017 and described a pilot set up under Duncan Smith's guidance as inadequate and open to fraud.

Full Article on Guardian Politics

Universal credit: £120m could be written off to rescue welfare reform

Ministers attempting to put the troubled universal credit welfare reform programme back on track have been presented with a radical plan to restart the scheme and write off £119m of work over the past three years.

The proposals would create a much more web-based system, reducing the need for jobcentre staff, but putting the whole scheme back to "phase one".

Full Article on Guardian Politics

Universal credit: Flagship welfare reform 'poor value' says watchdog

The government's flagship welfare reform has been badly managed, is "overambitious" and poor value for money, the spending watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office said risks were taken with the universal credit to hit targets, IT systems had "limited functionality" and an unfamiliar project management approach was used.

A national rollout of the new benefit has been delayed following IT glitches.

Full Article on BBC News

Charities say millions without internet access will face benefits struggle

Charities and housing associations have warned that plans to move to an online-only system for claiming benefits do not include enought support for people who have no access to computers and do not know how to use the internet.

Once the government's flagship welfare reform Universal Credit is introduced later this year, the system will be wholly internet-based and claimants will only be able to make face-to-face applications in exceptional circumstances.

The radical changes to the benefit system are being introduced at a time when funding cuts have reduced the number of charitable advice centres that help claimants apply for benefits. Delegates at a debate on Universal Credit and IT readiness warned that insufficient thought has been given to how to support claimants from among the eight million UK citizens who are not online.

Full Article on Guardian Society

Universal Credit: 2 million will be better off refusing work

Despite David Cameron’s promise to ensure that employment “always pays” more than benefits, the government admitted “there is a risk” that working women will decide they should give up their jobs when Universal Credit is introduced.

Couples with children are likely to be among the hardest hit by the changes to the benefits system, which are being rolled out across the UK from next year, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.

The warnings result from the fact that the more people work, the more they pay in tax and national insurance, and the more they will lose in means-tested benefits under the plans.

Full Article on Telegraph

Universal credit system risks plunging vulnerable families into debt, warn MPs

The most vulnerable families risk debt and hardship as a result of moves to switch all benefit claimants on to the new Universal Credit system from next year, an all-party group of MPs warned last night.


Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, believes the reform represents the biggest shake-up of the welfare system since the Second World War. Universal Credit, which will be received both by the unemployed and people in low-paid jobs, will replace six previous benefits and is designed to “make work pay”.

But the Commons Work and Pensions select committee raised a serious of major concerns over how it will work – and urged Mr Duncan Smith to reconsider the “very ambitious” timetable for its implementation.

Full Article on The Independent

Universal credit will hit low-income families, charity warns

The government's flagship welfare policy could leave working people with less cash and increase the complexity of the benefits system, despite ministers' promises that it would be a simpler alternative with no losers, a report by an influential charity has said.

From next year new claimants will get a single payment instead of a series of different ones. The coalition's big idea is to put out-of-work benefits, tax credits and housing benefit into a single benefit for working-age people called the "universal credit".

This single credit, the biggest shake-up in benefits for a decade, will consist of a basic personal amount – with additional elements for disability, caring responsibilities, children and housing costs.

Full Article on Guardian Politics

Half a million disabled hit by Duncan Smith's welfare reform

Up to half a million disabled people and their families will be worse off if Iain Duncan Smith's flagship proposals for a universal credit for benefit claimants go ahead, according to an inquiry led by Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.


Cuts to child disability payments and to support for the most severely disabled are likely to result in people struggling to pay for essentials such as food and heating, says the report which is backed by The Children's Society, Citizens Advice and Disability Rights UK.

Many disabled people who are already finding it difficult to make ends meet face further hardship under the new benefit system, it adds.

Full Article on Independent

"Exempt Supported Housing", Universal Credit & Intensive Housing Management: News from the DWP

Support Solutions is pleased to publish our new Briefing which looks at the very recent information coming from the DWP which says, as we predicted in June of this year, that the housing costs of supported housing will be met through existing arrangements and not from Universal Credit. This is really important and very positive news. You can read our Briefing in full here.

This Briefing deals with the future funding of supported housing and Intensive Housing Management given the imminent implementation of Universal Credit.

Key Points:

·        Funding for the housing component of supported housing (including Intensive Housing management) is to be funded outside of Universal Credit in broadly the same way as it is now.

·        Exempt Accommodation is to be retained.

·        This may require the draft Universal Credit Regulations to be amended to relax the “benefit cap” for supported housing services which would otherwise breach it due to cost.

·        Sheltered housing is not specifically mentioned but there is nothing in what the DWP says to suggest it will be treated differently where there is a need for “general counselling & support” to be provided.

·        The DWP is to develop and pilot a locally based funding model in the longer term, perhaps when they have “bedded in” Universal Credit from 2017.

 

EVENT: Welfare Reforms Information

Wiltshire & Swindon Users Network are hosting a...

Welfare Reforms – Information Event

Are you of working age, in receipt of benefits such as Housing, Disability / Employment Support Allowance etc. or you would just like to know more about the change to Universal Credit?

Please join us on:

Monday 2nd July

10.45am-2.30pm

Devizes Sports Club

This event includes presentations by Citizens Advice Bureau and the Department of Work and Pensions.

Topics include:
Welfare Reforms, Personal Independence Payments and Work Capability Assessments

Places are limited and you must book a place if you would like to attend this free event 
Call 01380 871800 or Fax 01380 871507 or email assistant.wsun@btconnect.com