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Delays to universal credit lead watchdog to rate it as a new project
Due to the delays to universal credit, a government watchdog has assessed it as ‘reset’ meaning it is considered a new scheme.
The Major Projects Authority’s annual assessment up to September 2013 of 200 government infrastructure projects rated Iain Duncan Smith’s flagship welfare reform scheme as ‘reset’. This is the first time the MPA has used this classification for its delivery confidence assessment.
The report said the MPA has ‘undertaken significant work to develop a ‘reset plan’ to place the roll-out of universal credit on a more secure footing’.
It added that the ‘reset’ decision ‘reflects this new status of the project’.
A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said the reset classification reflected changes the DWP has already announced, including rolling out the programme more slowly than previously planned.
The spokesperson told The Guardian: ‘Universal credit is on track. The reset is not new but refers to the shift in the delivery plan and change in management back in early 2013.
‘The reality is that universal credit is already making work pay as we roll it out in a careful and controlled way. It’s already operating in 10 areas and will start expanding to the rest of the north west in June.
‘Jobseekers in other areas are already benefiting from some of its positive impacts through help from a work coach, more digital facilities in jobcentres, and a written agreement setting out what they will do to find work.’
Francis Maude, the cabinet office minister, says in a foreword to the MPA report assessing the overall state of projects: ‘We have made significant progress. This year, half of the projects with the most significant challenges improved, while our work to develop our people has meant we are relying less on costly consultants.’
The DWP spent £8.8 million on consultants for the universal credit programme between 2011 and 2013, according to an Inside Housing freedom of information request. This was broken down to £5.6 million in 2011/12 and £3.2 million in 2012/13.
Mr Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, said in December that universal credit may miss its 2017 target as the department admits 700,000 people may not be transferred in time.
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