Universal Credit crunch: Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reform wastes £34m - so far

[LeftishBrit]

The wide-ranging reforms to Britain’s benefits system have been beset by “weak management, poor governance” and a “fortress mentality” that has so far wasted £34 million of taxpayers’ money, the Government’s own auditors conclude today.

In a damning report, the National Audit Office (NAO) said the Department for Work and Pensions has never had a “detailed view” of how its flagship universal credit programme was meant to work – and suggested it might never result in the billions of pounds of savings claimed by ministers.

Iain Duncan Smith, who has staked his personal reputation on the success of the scheme, is expected to be forced to make a statement on the failures identified to MPs today. Senior government sources suggested the blame should fall on Robert Devereux – the most senior civil servant in the department – whom they accused of providing false reassurances on the scheme’s progress....


Labour squarely blamed Mr Duncan Smith for the failures, while the NAO suggested the national roll-out of the scheme should now be delayed to prevent further problems from occurring. “Universal credit is a titanic IT disaster which Iain Duncan Smith has tried to hide with cover-up after cover-up,” said Liam Byrne, Labour’s shadow Work and Pension Secretary. Mr Duncan Smith has completely lost control of his department at a potential cost of hundreds of millions of pounds. Incredibly, three years on, ministers still don’t know how things are supposed to work.”

.....

Much more at link:


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/universal-credit-crunch-iain-duncan-smiths-welfare-reform-wastes-34m--so-far-8798957.html



(But it is a good way of kicking people when they're down and punishing poor people for their poverty - so who cares if it's a massive waste of taxpayers' money?!)

[non sociopath skin]

1. The plaintive cry of the Tory over the years. "It isn't my fault!"

Never overestimate the Quiet Man.



The Skin