Politics

Universal Credit now seven years late

Published

6 years ago

February 10, 2020

Iain Duncan Smith: Former Cabinet member responsible for welfare farce

THE ROLLOUT of Universal Credit has been delayed again to 2024.
Over seven years after it was originally supposed to be implemented in full and over a decade after it was first piloted, the scheme has lurched from crisis to crisis in its troubled history.
Universal Credit merges six existing benefits, including housing benefit and child tax credits, into one monthly sum.
The government’s stated aim is to simplify the welfare system, both to help claimants, cut fraud, and encourage work. However, its ultimate effect has been to slash welfare payments to the most vulnerable and plunge claimants into debt as they wait for their first payment of the new benefit.
The fresh delay, to September 2024, was uncovered in an upcoming BBC documentary about the government’s contentious welfare reform. It will add an estimated £500m to the Universal Credit programme, which is already billions over budget.
The delay has arisen because fewer people than expected had signed up to the new system, according to a new BBC documentary, Universal Credit: Inside the Welfare State.
In an excerpt released by the BBC, Neil Couling, the DWP’s director-general for Universal Credit said, in August last year: “We’ve had a lot of anecdotal evidence of people being scared to come to Universal Credit.
“It’s a potentially serious issue for us, in terms of completing the project by December 2023, but I’m urging people not to panic,” he said.
Mr Coulting continues in a subsequent meeting to say: “Three, six or nine months, it doesn’t matter – the headline will be: ‘Delay, disaster’.
“I would say, ‘Go safe, put the claimants first, and I’ll take the beating.'”
This week, the DWP admitted the delay was necessary because the number of people who had moved on to UC was lower than official estimates.
The BBC documentary shows the DWP acknowledging that the reason for the lower-than-expected uptake was the fear that new Universal Credit claimants would lose out.
Gross and ongoing delays in making benefit awards on the new system have plunged people into debt recouped from their benefits due to the waiting period for its first payment imposed by the UK Government.
Universal credit was phased in during 2013.
The benefit was first due for full rollout by April 2017. However, transferring claimants to the new system has been plagued by a series of technical delays. Those delays include a fiasco over IT infrastructure and the failure of the system to account for varying incomes for the self-employed and those employed on casual or zero-hour contracts.
Last week, the UK Government lost a major case on the benefit’s rollout.
In a decision handed down in the Court of Appeal by the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Singh, the court ruled transitional provisions relating to the treatment of disabled persons were discriminatory. It found that a severely disabled person who moved from an area where UC had not been rolled out to an area in which it had would be treated less favourably than a person who did not move. In a second case, the court quashed provisions meaning those who migrated ‘naturally’ from Severe Disability Premium to Universal Credit less favourably than those who made the transition under the managed migration scheme.
Last year, former DWP Secretary Amber Rudd said that payment delays of Universal Credit were ‘the main issue’ leading to dependence on foodbanks.
The delay’s announcement follows the publication of a report by the Resolution Foundation
The report notes that the final – and most challenging – phase of the roll-out, involving the transfer of existing benefit and tax credit claimants onto UC, is due to start later this year.
The Foundation states that a marginal average increase of a whacking £1 a week for some claimants ‘masks sizeable groups of families that lose out by large sums, and significant geographical variation across the UK. Thanks to factors such as local rent and earnings levels, and the characteristics of local populations, some parts of the country will be left significantly worse off as the switch to UC goes ahead’.
In areas with a relatively high proportion of single parents, out-of-work single people and disabled people, all of whom fare badly under UC, claimants lose out. Also, while Universal Credit favours working families with high rents, it hits those in areas with below-average rent levels.
The Foundation adds that policymakers in Whitehall, and across the UK, need to consider the impact of Universal Credit at a local level. At exactly the time that policy debates are rightly focusing on what can be done to close economic gaps between parts of the UK, this major welfare reform will be rolled out with very different impacts on those places.
Laura Gardiner, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Welcome recent reforms mean that Universal Credit is now set to be marginally more generous than the benefits it is replacing. But this average hides a complex mix of winners and losers, with families in some areas of the UK faring particularly badly.
“As well as making reforms at a national level – such as helping families to overcome the first payment hurdle and offering more flexibility for those with childcare – policymakers across the country need to better understand the effect Universal Credit will have in different places. That understanding should be central to policy debates that are rightly focusing on what can be done to close economic gaps between parts of the UK.”
Welfare minister Will Quince said: “Universal Credit is the biggest change to the welfare system in a generation, bringing together six overlapping benefits into one monthly payment and offering support to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
“It is right that we revisit our forecasts and plan, and re-plan accordingly – ensuring that the process is working well for people on benefits.
“Claimants will not lose money due to this forecasting change.”

News

Welsh politicians call for pension fund divestment over Israel links

Published

10 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Cross-party Senedd members and councillors say Welsh public money must not be invested in firms linked to alleged war crimes and apartheid

POLITICIANS from across Wales have called for local government pension funds to stop investing in companies they say are complicit in Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

In a cross-party letter coordinated by Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru, Senedd members and councillors from Plaid Cymru, the Greens, Labour and the Liberal Democrats urged the Wales Pensions Partnership to end investments they describe as supporting “genocide and apartheid”.

The Wales Pensions Partnership manages Welsh local government pension funds worth an estimated £26 billion.

In their letter, the politicians said ensuring public investments “are not contributing to grave violations of international law must be an urgent priority”.

The intervention comes as the Wales Pensions Partnership develops an Exclusion Framework, which campaigners say is intended to prevent investments that conflict with climate, human rights and international law commitments.

However, those behind the letter argue that the framework risks falling short of what they describe as a clear democratic mandate from councils across Wales.

According to PSC Cymru, many councils have already passed motions calling for divestment from companies alleged to be complicit in war crimes, apartheid and other breaches of international law. The group says 11 councils in Wales — half of all councils in the country — have now backed such motions.

Research cited by the campaign claims that Local Government Pension Scheme funds in Wales have more than £1.1 billion invested in companies said to be linked to Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

As one example, the campaign says Rhondda Cynon Taf Pension Fund has invested more than £12 million in BAE Systems, which it describes as an arms manufacturer making parts for fighter jets used by Israel in Gaza.

The letter calls on the Wales Pensions Partnership to ensure its Exclusion Framework explicitly excludes all companies said to be enabling grave violations of international law by Israel, and to produce a clear, time-bound plan for divestment.

Bethan Sayed, co-chair of PSC Cymru, said: “Today’s letter sends an unmistakable message: Welsh politicians from across the political spectrum will not allow public money to fund genocide and apartheid.

“The Wales Pension Partnership manages £26 billion on behalf of Welsh workers and communities — not a single penny of it should be profiting from the massacre of Palestinian men, women and children.

“Six out of seven people in Wales support divestment. Eleven councils have passed motions. The democratic mandate could not be clearer. The WPP must act — and it must act now.”

PSC Cymru said the letter reflected growing pressure across Wales for public bodies to review investments linked to the conflict.

News

Local defence ties strengthened as Shadow Defence Secretary visits Castlemartin

Published

16 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Tom Sinclair

James Cartlidge MP highlights strategic role of training area in national security and local economy

JAMES CARTLIDGE, the UK Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, has visited Castlemartin Training Area on Thursday (Apr 16) to meet personnel and discuss the site’s importance to both UK defence capability and the Pembrokeshire economy.

Castlemartin Training Area has a long-established role in the community, having been established in 1938 for tank training by the Royal Armoured Corps. The range was temporarily abandoned following the Second World War but reopened in 1951. From 1961 to 1996 it was also used by German Bundeswehr armoured units under NATO agreements. Today, it is regarded as one of the UK’s premier live-fire armoured training facilities, regularly used to prepare troops for operational deployment.

During the visit, the Shadow Defence Secretary was joined by Paul Davies and Samuel Kurtz, both former Pembrokeshire MSs and Conservative candidates for the Ceredigion Penfro constituency in the upcoming Senedd election on May 7. They highlighted the training area’s role in sustaining skilled local employment, supporting the wider supply chain, and underpinning the presence of the Armed Forces in West Wales.

Discussions also focused on the importance of maintaining strong defence capability amid global instability, alongside the contribution made by defence infrastructure to local communities and businesses across Pembrokeshire.

James Cartlidge MP, Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary, said: “Our Armed Forces rely on world-class training facilities like Castlemartin to ensure they are prepared for the challenges they face.

“It is clear this site plays a crucial role not only in UK national defence but also in supporting local jobs and the wider economy here in Pembrokeshire.”

Paul Davies said: “Castlemartin is an incredibly important asset for Pembrokeshire and for the UK as a whole.

“It supports skilled jobs locally and brings significant economic benefits to the area, as well as playing a key role in training our Armed Forces. We have a proud military history here, with many veterans living in the community.

“We also made clear during the visit that it was the Welsh Conservatives who fought to secure the extension of the 14th Signal Regiment at Cawdor Barracks, protecting jobs and ensuring a continued military presence in the county.”

Samuel Kurtz added: “We are proud of the role Pembrokeshire plays in supporting our Armed Forces. As a former MS with Castlemartin within my constituency, I have worked to build relationships and champion this important military site.

“Facilities like Castlemartin are vital. It is essential they continue to receive the support and investment needed to remain world-leading, and not be repurposed for any other use.”

The visit also underlined Conservative commitments to defence, including increasing defence spending, strengthening the Armed Forces, and ensuring the UK remains secure in an increasingly uncertain world.

It further provided an opportunity to highlight the importance of the defence industry supply chain and the range of businesses across the region that contribute to the sector.

Business

Narberth Kadinsky gallery to dental surgery refused

Published

21 hours ago

April 20, 2026

Bruce Sinclair - Local Democracy Reporter

PLANS to convert a former art gallery to a dental surgery on the edge of a Pembrokeshire town have been refused.

In an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, Ahmed Abouserwel, through agent A.D Architectural Design Consultants LTD, sought permission for a change of use of the former Kadinsky gallery, Redstone Road, Narberth, to a dental surgery, along with associated works.

A supporting statement said: “The existing open plan gallery space will be transformed into the main dentist area, with a glazed internal lobby, leading directly into the open reception / waiting area. There will be five treatment rooms accessed directly off the reception, with a private archive room behind the reception desk.

“The rear lean-to projection will be extended to the north to accommodate a proposed decontamination room and to re-model the Staff area and W.C provision (number to remain as existing).”

It said the proposal would create 10 full and three part-time jobs.

An officer report recommending refusal said concerns were raised by the county Highways authority, who having assessed the application on safety, capacity and policy considerations, recommended the application be REFUSED on the grounds of insufficient evidence provided.

“The submitted design and access statement and block plan indicate on-site parking provision for 16 vehicles, located to the north and west of the building. The application form states that the site will employ 10 full-time staff and three part-time staff. However, the submission does not differentiate between practitioners and ancillary/support staff.”

It said, on planning guidance, health centres require three spaces per practitioner; and one space per three ancillary staff, adding: “As the applicant has not provided a breakdown of staff roles, the Highway Authority is unable to assess whether the proposed parking provision is adequate.”

It stressed: “Whist there is no in-principle objection to the redevelopment of this established site for a dental surgery, insufficient information has been provided to fully assess the proposal.”

It was refused on the grounds including it would lead “to the unjustified loss of an employment premises in a location which contributes to the local supply of employment land and buildings,” adding: “Insufficient evidence has been submitted to demonstrate that the building is no longer suitable or viable for continued employment use, nor that there is overriding community need to justify its loss.”

It was also refused on the grounds that “Insufficient information has been submitted to demonstrate that the development would operate without giving rise to unacceptable highway safety impacts or on street parking pressure”.