IRRV Alert - week ending 24th June 2011

News

IT for universal credit may miss deadline

 

 

 

 

Intellect report warns DWP that timescale for IT changes is 'cause for concern'

  • Source: Kable
  • Date: Monday, June 20, 2011

Ministers have been warned in a confidential report that welfare reforms designed to encourage people back to work risk being delayed because they depend on the successful launch of a complex government IT system, reports the Observer.

Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, plans to introduce universal credit – designed to make work pay for those currently on benefits – by 2013. But it depends on the development of IT systems that link Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) data to show how much each universal credit claimant is earning in work and how much they are due from the state.

A report commissioned by the DWP, details of which were leaked to the Observer, reveals serious concerns among government IT suppliers over whether the deadlines can be met. It also says that Duncan Smith's claim that no-one would be worse off working under the new system "may challenge plans to transition tens of millions of accounts in a four-year window. There may be thousands of exceptional cases that inhibit... the finish date of 2017."

There have been indications that the work will be done under an existing contract with HP, which allows for other suppliers to be pulled in for parts of the project. In May, during a conference call organised to announce his company's quarterly results, the chief executive of Informatica, a Californian IT firm, said it would be involved.

Consultants at IT industry association Intellect were commissioned by the government late last year to ask suppliers whether the DWP's timescales for the universal credit were realistic. The reported: "While many felt that from a technology perspective the timescales appeared achievable, this came with heavy caveats. Some felt the timescales were aggressive and cause for concern, particularly since the precise requirements are unlikely to be confirmed before the final bill is approved by parliament.

"Some suppliers felt the timescales were unrealistic, citing the following reasons: there are no alternatives being prototyped; eight months for the core development is possible if done properly, but unrealistic given the number of additional traditional interfaces, and in particular the one from HMRC."

When Joe Harley, chief information officer at the DWP, was asked last month by the Commons public accounts committee whether the new system would be the most complicated ever undertaken, he would not deny it.

Last night Labour MP Stephen Timms, the shadow employment minister, said: "Ministers' promise to put all new benefit applicants through the new universal credit IT system by October 2013 looks unrealistic.

"The new IT system will require every employer in the country to send PAYE data electronically every month to HMRC. That is a huge undertaking on its own, and key elements of universal credit policy are still not decided – for example, how self-employed people will be handled and how support for childcare will be assessed.

"From my experience of past government IT projects, there just isn't time now to sort it all out before the deadline.

Intellect refused to comment on its report, citing confidentiality. A DWP spokesman said: ""Universal credit is on track and on time to secure a welfare state fit for the 21st century. It will create one single income-replacement benefit for working age adults and rid many of the traps and disincentives in the current system which keeps people on benefits when they could be working.

"We continue to work with experts from across the industry on the design and development of universal credit - testing it along the way to make sure we deliver a consistently excellent service to claimants and ensure value for money for taxpayers."

 

 

 

 

 


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