Iain Duncan Smith will be grilled by MPs on Wednesday about the progress (or lack of) in implementing Universal Credit and there’s further evidence today of why so many across Whitehall are troubled by the Work and Pensions Secretary’s grand projet.
Three months before UC, which will replace six of the main means-tested benefits and tax credits with a single payment, is introduced nationally, the first independent survey of recipients by Citizens Advice has found that 92 per cent are unprepared for the new system in at least one area. Changes that will be introduced include monthly, rather than weekly or fortnightly, payments, a new online system for accessing benefits and the direct payment of housing benefit to claimants, rather than landlords.
Previous research has found that claimants believe monthly payment will make it harder for them to budget and this concern is reinforced by the Citizens Advice study, with three-quarters saying they could not alone “keep track of my money on a monthly basis”. In addition, two-thirds say they will need help to “get online and manage my universal credit account”. One claimant, Derek Mallet, from Birmingham, said he was “concerned about having to use the internet in order to set up and get benefits. I have never been on a computer.” This unpreparedness, Citizens Advice says, is “widespread across people of all backgrounds and ages”.
In response, the charity is pushing for the government to allow claimants to request fortnightly rather than monthly payments and for their rent to be paid directly to their landlord for the first year of the new system. Gillian Guy said: “Our report shows that an overwhelming majority of people do not feel ready to deal with universal credit. Our findings must act as a wake-up call for government.
“The results demonstrate yet again how vital it is that implementing universal credit is not left to chance. There is clearly a breakdown in the system if 90% of potential claimants are not ready to deal with this major change to their payments, and ministers must act urgently to address this problem.”
For now, the DWP insists that it is working with “councils, social landlords and community groups, including Citizens Advice, to offer support” to claimants. But if Universal Credit is not to become, in Labour’s words, “universal chaos”, it does look increasingly likely that Duncan Smith will have to accept the changes urged by Citizens Advice and others.