DWP Cuts Put Government's Welfare Reforms at Risk

The government's ambitious welfare reform strategy is at risk because of the speed and depth of the cuts imposed on the DWP, according to a leaked internal review. The document reveals that the DWP is struggling to meet "extremely challenging" demands for over £1bn of efficiency savings over the next two years and these pressures could disrupt plans to roll out benefits reforms. Too crude an approach to future cuts would affect the quality and capacity of the DWP's "public-facing" services to vulnerable pensioners, jobseekers and benefit claimants, it warns. It is understood that separate internal DWP modelling shows that, as universal credit is expanded in the months before the general election next year, the cuts will diminish the department's capacity to keep on top of rising customer demand in jobcentres and benefit offices.  Read more on the Guardian website.