Annex 2: A selected timeline of the history of Universal Credit

2009

  • Dynamic Benefits report published by the Centre for Social Justice

2010

  • Coalition programme for government contains a commitment to simplify the benefit system 1
  • Iain Duncan Smith announces Universal Credit at the Conservative party conference 2
  • Government publishes a white paper entitled “Universal Credit: welfare that works”3

2011

  • Equality Impact Assessment published 4

2012

  • Concern by the PCS Union that managers are putting job centre staff under pressure to tell claimants that Universal Jobmatch is mandatory5

2013

  • DWP starts accepting claims for single jobseekers 6
  • Major Projects Authority gives Universal Credit “amber-red” status 7
  • Project is “reset” and the Government Digital Service called in to help 8 9 10
  • Public Account Comittee told that at least £140 million of “IT assets” would be written off 11
  • National Audit Office calculates that £425 million had been spent to April 2013 12
  • “Twin-track approach” was adopted where by the “Live Service” would be rolled out to limited claimant types, and a new digital “Full Service” would be designed with more functionality using agile development practices 13
  • “Live Service” expanded to Hammersmith, London 14
  • Twin-track running of “live service” and “digital service” is announced 15

    2014

  • Major Projects Authority lists Universal Credit under the status “reset” 16
  • “Live service” starts accepting some claims from couples 17
  • Universal Jobmatch criticised by Frank Fields MP for advertising bogus jobs 18
  • Plans by DWP to replace Universal Jobmatch and “learn the lessons” from it are leaked to The Guardian 19
  • DWP starts accepting limited claims for families with children 20

2015

  • Draft proposals published that would allow Scottish Government Ministers to decide how often to pay Universal Credit to claimants, and will be able decide when to pay housing costs directly to landlords 21
  • reductions in level of payments after 2015 budget

2016

  • Universal Credit rollout completed in Wales22
  • Rollout of ‘Full Service’ begins23

2017

  • Scottish Government makes changes to the monthly payment cycle and direct payment of rent under devolved powers 24
  • Changes to the taper rate
  • Child element limited to two children
  • Waiting days abolished

    2018

  • ‘Live Service” areas stop taking new claims25
  • The “Waiting days” policy for new applicants removed, reducing time to first payment from 6 weeks to 5 weeks. Advance payments are increased to 100% of the expected payment. 26
  • Rollout of the ”Full Service” in Wales delayed due to delays completing Welsh language version of the service.
  • “Full Service” is deployed in 258 job centres27
  • National Audit Office calculates cost at £1.9 billion. There are 490,000 users of the “Full Service” and 325,000 using the “Live service”) 28
  • Programme timetable changed so that it would complete in 2023 29
  • Trussell Trust research finds a 52% average increase in food bank use in areas that have had Universal Credit for 12 months compared to 13% in areas that have not 30 31
  • Universal Credit “Full Service” is available everywhere in Great Britain 32

2019

  • Landlord Portal announced along with a partial removal of the two-child limit33
  • Child Poverty Action Group publish research into impact of two-child limit which estimates 300,000 will be pushed into poverty by 2023/24 34

  1. Cabinet Office, “The Coalition: our programme for government”, GOV.UK, 20th may 2010, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-coalition-our-programme-for-government, retrieved 24th October 2019 ↩

  2. Iain Duncan Smith, “Our contract with the country for 21st Century Welfare”, Speech to Conservative Party conference, 5th October 2010, https://web.archive.org/web/20110128174515/http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2010/10/Iain_Duncan_Smith_Our_contract_with_the_country_for_21st_Century_Welfare.aspx ↩

  3. Department for Work and Pensions, “Universal Credit: welfare that works”, November 2012, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48897/universal-credit-full-document.pdf ↩

  4. Department for Work and Pensions, “Universal Credit – equality impact assessment”, 9th November 2011 ,https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-equality-impact-assessment ↩

  5. Michael Laffan, “Universal Jobmatch - Update for Members - Recent information from the union in DWP”, PCS website, 3rd December 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20130207090129/https://www.pcs.org.uk/en/department_for_work_and_pensions_group/dwp-news.cfm/id/D34395B0-26B7-4E67-81B32F80CFEBB3E8, retrieved 19th September 2019 ↩

  6. National Audit Office, “Universal Credit: progress update”, p4, 26th November 2014, https://www.nao.org.uk/report/universal-credit-progress-update-2/, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  7. Patrick Wintour, “Universal credit in danger of failing, official Whitehall review says”, The Guardian, 24th May 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/24/universal-credit-danger-failing-whitehall-review, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  8. Derek du Preez, “DWP finally admits Universal Credit IT not up to scratch - calling in GDS”, Computerworld, 10th July 2013, https://www.computerworld.com/article/3418557/dwp-finally-admits-universal-credit-it-not-up-to-scratch—calling-in-gds.html, retrieved 16th August 2019 ↩

  9. “Discussion: Universal Credit project is officially “reset” / changing direction / will start again almost from scratch / technology scrapped - Rightsnet”, Rightsnet, 22nd July 2013, https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/member/3221/viewthread/5089/#21709, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩

  10. Tentacle Sixteen, “Anonymous source: Universal Credit IT “reset”, started again (with tweets) · latentexistence”, Storify, 19th July 2013, http://web.archive.org/web/20130724234956/http://storify.com/latentexistence/anonymous-source-universal-credit-it-reset-started, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩

  11. Public Accounts Committee, House of Commons, “House of Commons - Universal Credit: early progress”, 4th November 2013, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/619/61902.htm, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  12. National Audit Office, “Universal Credit: early progress”, 2nd September 2013, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/10132-001-Universal-credit.pdf ↩

  13. National Audit Office, “Rolling out Universal Credit”, p14,15, 11th June 2018, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit.pdf, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  14. Department for Work and Pensions, “Universal Credit expands to London”, GOV.UK, 28th October 2013, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/universal-credit-expands-to-london, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  15. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith), “Universal Credit Work and Pensions written statement”, HC Deb, 5th December 2013, c65WS, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm131205/wmstext/131205m0001.htm#131205m0001.htm_spmin5 ↩

  16. Cabinet Office, “Major Projects Authority Annual Report 2013-2014”, 23rd May 2014, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388467/MPA_Annual_Report_UPDATE_Dec_12__1_.pdf, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  17. National Audit Office, “Universal Credit: progress update”, p14, 26th November 2014, https://www.nao.org.uk/report/universal-credit-progress-update-2/, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  18. Rowena Mason, “Government’s Universal Jobmatch website ‘bedevilled with fraud’”, The Guardian, 5th Mar 2014 at 18:20, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/05/government-universal-jobmatch-website-fraud, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩

  19. Shiv Malik, “DWP draws up plans to ditch ridiculed jobs website”, The Guardian, 16th Mar 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/16/dwp-jobs-website-universal-jobsmatch, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  20. National Audit Office, “Universal Credit: progress update”, p4, 26th November 2014, https://www.nao.org.uk/report/universal-credit-progress-update-2/, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  21. Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland, “Welfare changes - at a glance”, GOV.UK, 22nd January 2015, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/scotland-welfare-changes-at-a-glance/welfare-changes-at-a-glance, retrieved 11th October 2019 ↩

  22. Department for Work and Pensions, “All Welsh jobcentres switch over to Universal Credit”, GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-welsh-jobcentres-switch-over-to-universal-credit, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩

  23. National Audit Office, “Universal Credit: progress update”, p18, 26th November 2014, https://www.nao.org.uk/report/universal-credit-progress-update-2/, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  24. Scottish Government, “Scottish Flexibilities for Universal Credit”, gov.scot, 13th January 2017, https://www.gov.scot/news/scottish-flexibilities-for-universal-credit/ ↩

  25. Department for Work and Pensions, “Universal Credit: full service and live service”, GOV.UK, 12th December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-full-service-and-live-service#history, retrieved 24th October 2019 ↩

  26. Department for Work and Pensions, “First Universal Credit payment paid quicker”, GOV.UK, 14th February 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/first-universal-credit-payment-paid-quicker, retrieved 20th September 2019 ↩

  27. National Audit Office, “Rolling out Universal Credit”, 11th June 2018, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit.pdf, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  28. National Audit Office, “Rolling out Universal Credit”, 11th June 2018, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit.pdf, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  29. National Audit Office, “Rolling out Universal Credit”, p19, 11th June 2018, https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Rolling-out-Universal-Credit.pdf, retrieved 4th October 2019 ↩

  30. Trussell Trust, “Charity warns next stage of Universal Credit could further increase foodbank use”, 5th October 2018, https://www.trusselltrust.org/2018/10/05/moving-onto-universal-credit/, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩

  31. Trussell Trust, “The next stage of Universal Credit” 5th October 2018, https://www.trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/The-next-stage-of-Universal-Credit-Report-Final.pdf  ↩

  32. Department for Work and Pensions, “Universal Credit: full service and live service”, GOV.UK, 12th December 2018, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/universal-credit-full-service-and-live-service#history, retrieved 24th October 2019 ↩

  33. Department for Work and Pensions, “Speech by Amber Rudd - Universal Credit: personal welfare”, GOV.UK, 11th January 2019, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/universal-credit-personal-welfare, retrieved 31 December 2019 ↩

  34. Child Poverty Action Group, “All Kids Count: The impact of the two-child limit after two years”, 26th June 2019, https://cpag.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/report/all-kids-count-impact-two-child-limit-after-two-years, retrieved 10th October 2019 ↩