Universal Credit
(asked on 9th January 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason Universal Credit live service has been closed to new claims from 1 January 2018; and if she will make a statement.
The prototype Universal Credit live service has provided an invaluable platform for implementing Universal Credit. However changes to the live service system would be required to introduce the improvements announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget 2017, which were set out in Parliament by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on Thursday 23rd November 2017.
It would not represent value for money for taxpayers to invest in these required system changes as Universal Credit full service is steadily replacing the live service and will be available in every Jobcentre by December 2018. Making the Budget changes in the live service would delay the implementation of those changes because of the timescales associated with introducing modifications to that IT system.