Fear of Political Embarrassment Driving Flawed Universal Credit Roll Out

Even if the flaws are not ironed out of universal credit, fear of political embarrassment will force the government to roll it out before the next general election, the head of Shelter has warned.  Campbell Robb, the housing charity’s chief executive, said even though the welfare policy was a ‘disaster’, ministers would be forced to implement it before May 2015 because the government had ‘so much riding on it’.  ‘This has got disaster written all over it, but I’m afraid that political necessity will override that in the short term,’ he added. Read more on Inside Housing.