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Cyberfraud and identity theft pose the most serious threat to the implementation of the government's welfare reforms, a government minister said as he outlined potential problems facing the project during the final months of development.
Lord Freud, parliamentary under-secretary of state for welfare reform, said online security was a risk to the introduction of the universal credit. The department was focusing on identity and potential cyberfraud to make sure the system was "utterly robust". Security systems developed by banks were being adopted, and the government was in talks with Amazon to learn from its online security measures, he said.
Welfare reform minister Lord Freud says benefit claimants used to being paid fortnightly will be able to opt in for an advance payment to bridge them on to the monthly system of Universal Credit.
Universal Credit will be rolled out over four years from October 2013 and will see claimants receive a single monthly payment in arrears in replace of six income-related benefits, including housing benefit, tax credits etc.
Families should be able to ‘opt in’ to an online budgeting tool under the new Universal Credit, which allows them to determine the direction and frequency of benefit payments, according to a think tank.
The Social Market Foundation (SMF) report 'Sink or Swim' warns Universal Credit is at risk of “backfiring” and shows that the changes - including monthly payments and housing benefit paid to claimants in the social rented sector from next October - will leave many households struggling to cope.
The Government should create a set of standards for ‘Budget Accounts’ (jam jars) – which safeguard rental income for housing associations – allowing financial providers to deliver them for tenants in return for initial subsidies.
That’s the conclusion of an in-depth report, commissioned by the National Housing Federation (NHF), into the banking products needed by social housing tenants for Universal Credit.
The government's flagship welfare reform programme is heading for "disaster", its "poverty czar" Frank Field has warned.
Writing in The Guardian, the Labour MP says Universal Credit will not simplify benefits as planned and will instead "rot the soul" of the low paid.
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith says the Government will explore a 'social housing broadband tariff' to enable those to claim the new Universal Credit online.
From next October, Universal Credit will replace six income-related benefits, including housing benefit, which claimants will apply online for and receive as a single monthly payment.
Iain Duncan Smith is fighting to stop the Chancellor shelving his universal credit scheme.
George Osborne reportedly wants to block the Work and Pension’s Secretary’s £2billion flagship reform amid growing concerns about its escalating cost.
Social housing can learn from the private rented sector to prepare for the government's new welfare reforms.
For the last 12 months, I have been travelling the country and meeting large and small social and private landlords to see what preparations they are making for Universal Credit.
