Committee Publishes Report on the Early Progress of Universal Credit

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge MP, has released a critical report examining government progress in delivering Universal Credit and the problems there have been in implementing the programme. The Committee found serious problems with the IT development and the management of the Universal Credit programme, saying in its report that:

·         it is highly likely that a substantial part of the expenditure on IT development for Universal Credit will have to be written off - up to £300 million.

·         oversight of the Universal Credit programme has been characterised by a failure to understand properly the nature and enormity of the task, a failure to monitor and challenge progress regularly, and a failure to intervene promptly when problems arose.

The report outlines a number of recommendations for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to consider.  Download a copy of the report from the Parliament website.