By Richard Johnstone | 28 October 2013
The government’s flagship Universal Credit has been rolled out to another local authority area, with new jobseekers in Hammersmith in London beginning to receive the combined payment.
The controversial programme combines six benefits and tax credits into one payment and aims to ensure people are always better off in work. It has been trialled in three areas in Greater Manchester since July.
However, the launch of these pilots was delayed after a number of problems, including flaws in the IT programme needed to run the scheme. This led to the National Audit Office to warn the plan to implement Universal Credit nationwide by 2017 was ‘overly ambitious in both the timetable and scope’, and must be reassessed.
Welfare reform minister Lord Freud insisted today that the government was introducing the reform in a ‘slow, safe and controlled way’, and this careful approach was now working well.
Hammersmith Jobcentre Plus will start placing new single claimants onto the Universal Credit from today. They will also introduce intensive support measures for new jobseekers, who will be required to undertake four face-to-face interviews with a ‘work coach’ within the first two weeks of their Universal Credit claim. Each will also have to sign a new Claimant Commitment, informing them what they have to do in order to receive their benefits.
The government said that Universal Credit claimants would be given support from local authorities and third sector organisations to claim, and help them budget.
Further pilots will begin in Rugby, Inverness, Harrogate, Bath, and Shotton in Cheshire by the spring.
Freud added that the reform would help create a modern welfare system that ‘rewards people who move into work, supports those who’ve fallen on hard times and is fair to taxpayers’.
He added: ‘We introduced Universal Credit in a slow, safe and controlled way in Manchester and this careful approach is working well. Most people are claiming it online, the IT is working and comprehensive support is in place. We will build on these successes as Universal Credit rolls out across the country.’
