Flagship benefit rollout to continue

THE Government looks set to press ahead with the controversial roll-out of its flagship welfare reform, despite growing concerns about vulnerable claimants being left without money for as long as six weeks while their applications are processed.

The former head of the Government’s troubled families team, Dame Louise Casey, has said the extension of Universal Credit (UC) should be put on hold because of the delayed payments issue, while 12 Conservative MPs have written to Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke urging him to pause the roll-out.

Mr Gauke, who has been reviewing the implementation of UC with Prime Minister Theresa May, is expected to announce some tweaks to the system in his keynote speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester today, but is thought unlikely to unveil fundamental reforms to the benefit.

Yesterday he stressed the importance of ensuring that claimants were aware of cash advances which are available for those who fear they will find it difficult to make ends meet while their applications are processed.

Already, more than 50% of claimants were receiving advances, he said.

“We need to make sure that people are properly aware of advances,” he said.

Mr Gauke said he would be ready to tear up the system first devised by predecessor Iain Duncan Smith if he felt it was a “mistake”. He rejected the judgement of former Treasury mandarin Lord Macpherson that UC was “an accident waiting to happen”.

“I wasn’t involved in the creation of Universal Credit...” said Mr Gauke. “If I looked at it and thought this is a mistake, I would be attempting to do something to stop it. But I don’t.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary said that the roll-out of UC, due to be complete for new claimants across the country by the autumn of 2018, would not be carried out in a “reckless or risky” way.

Ministers were introducing it gradually and amending details as they learnt from experience, he said.

He denied that UC was designed purely to save money, insisting it was intended to support people in finding work and taking on more hours

But shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams said: “The six-week wait for payment of Universal Credit is a punitive policy introduced by this government, it can be changed.

“I wrote to the Secretary of State calling for a pause to Universal Credit roll-out weeks ago.”