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UC - a timeline (The Register)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/21/universal_credit_a_timeline_of_ids_legacy/
Fave bits:
One source who said they had identified the failings of Universal Credit from an early stage, places the blame squarely on IDS.
“I blame him for being pig-headed and grandiose. The idea that you could consolidate all those benefits, move some from the centre to local authorities and vice versa and change payment, eg away from landlords to tenants, and hope that it all works, was just a dream.”
(.....)
“If Stephen Crabb has any sense he should come clean about the historical mess that has been the UC programme and admit why it is going as slowly as it is. The ‘careful and slow’ mantra isn’t fooling anyone who has followed the programme.”
As a personal opinion, I disagree with the view that it has gone too far to be stopped. A bad idea is a bad idea, and UC is a very bad idea. Almost the only good bit of it has been removed, and the rest is a ragbag of offcuts from the existing benefits (UC is a SAUSAGE!) and there is very little that is new or useful and many people will lose a lot. The sanctions I have seen so far have been, on the whole, aggressively applied to say the least, and some are nonsensical.
“A bad idea is a bad idea, and UC is a very bad idea. Almost the only good bit of it has been removed, and the rest is a ragbag of offcuts from the existing benefits”.
Very well put!
In a similar vein, I came across this CPAG Scotland briefing on “teething” problems of the UC roll-out from their early warning system.
Briefing in advance of CPAG in Scotland’s Early Warning System Policy Seminar on universal credit
“A bad idea is a bad idea, and UC is a very bad idea. Almost the only good bit of it has been removed, and the rest is a ragbag of offcuts from the existing benefits”.
Very well put!
Bit hard on poor sausages though!
Universal Credit, the government’s controversial welfare reform programme, was handed over to Iain Duncan Smith’s successor as work and pensions secretary with 65 “live risks” attached to it, BuzzFeed News can reveal.
The high number of potential issues is revealed in a “risk register” that details problems that might happen in the course of implementing the scheme and actions being taken to prevent them. The register was disclosed by the Department of Work and Pensions in response to a freedom of information request by John Slater, a former IT project manager ...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/universal-credit-handed-over-to-iain-duncan-smiths-successor
‘In a 2011 press release, the DWP claimed 12 million benefits claimants would be claiming universal credit by 2017’
Ahhhh, love it!!!!
Andrew - what is the “good bit” that has been removed?!