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IDS has been championing Universal Credit project for four years
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But Major Project Authority had to create new rating to describe failings
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Scheme was given ‘reset’ rating after it had to be completely restarted
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Ministers accused of trying to bury bad news amid local election coverage
Iain
Duncan Smith’s flagship welfare reform is going so badly that a
watchdog has had to a create a whole new category to describe its
failures. The Work and Pensions Secretary’s scheme to replace six
separate benefits with a single Universal Credit was sent back to the
drawing board last year following serious delays and cost overruns.
The Major Projects Authority (MPA), the
quango that assesses how effectively large schemes are being
implemented, yesterday concluded that its worst rating was not bad
enough to accommodate all the failings associated with Universal Credit.
The fact that the Government published
the damning study amid the announcement of local election results led to
accusations that ministers were seeking to ‘bury’ bad news. The
findings are a huge embarrassment for Mr Duncan Smith, who has
championed the reform of welfare for the past four years.
The authority’s assessment covered 199
government projects. Each was graded using a five-tier traffic-light
system from green for the best-run schemes and red for the worst, via
green/amber, amber and amber/red.
However, Universal Credit has been given
a category all of its own – ‘reset’, reflecting the fact that it has
had to be started all over again.
‘We have undertaken significant work to
develop a “reset plan” to place the rollout of Universal Credit on a
more secure footing, and the “reset” delivery confidence assessment
reflects this new status of the project,’ said the MPA.
From the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637895/A-good-day-ministers-bury-bad-news-IDS-benefits-plan-chaos-classed-failure.html#ixzz32cdk9Mm8
