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Universal credit rollout delayed again to 2024
The BBC has revealed that full rollout of universal credit is being delayed again, to 2024, adding £500 million to its overall cost.
The government's flagship welfare reform was meant to be fully live by April 2017, but the new delay will push it back to September 2024. Officials claim that not enough people are moving to the benefit as they are ‘scared’ to move to universal credit. Will Quince, the welfare delivery minister, said claimants would not lose money as a result of the change.
The new benefit, which replaces six existing payments, has already seen claimants having to wait at least five weeks for the payments to start and many reports of people falling into debt, and having to resort to food banks as a consequence.
Additionally, advance payments of the benefit, introduced to help people through the five weeks with no money coming in, have been blamed for putting claimants into debt.
Neil Couling, the senior civil servant in charge of the rollout for the past five years, says he believes that once universal credit is fully implemented, it will be successful and regarded as ‘the right thing to do’.
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