Universal Credit’s shadow system costs £10 billion
It’s been 13 years since the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), which was designed to simplify benefits and make work pay, yet the welfare system is more bloated than ever. The rollout of UC was only meant to take four years, but it is still not complete. It has been delayed by courtroom battles, bureaucratic inertia, disruption from the pandemic and intense pressure from the poverty lobby. This delay has left a jumble of schemes that dispense welfare alongside regular benefit payments. As part of my research at the thinktank Onward, we can now reveal that there are more than 20 different schemes that sit alongside Universal Credit, handing out welfare separately.
