Universal Credit IT programme not fit for purpose, sources warn
The Department for Work and Pensions has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on software for its flagship welfare project that may not be fit for purpose, the Guardian has been told.
Hundreds of millions has been spent on software to support the government's flagship Universal Credit scheme, which may not be able to support administering the benefit. Sources close to the DWP's Universal Credit project, which seeks to streamline and automate benefit payments and tax credits for 12 million people, indicate that upwards of £270m has already been spent in government contracts with IBM, Hewlett Packard and BT. Accenture is understood to have received the lion's share of the work, winning more than £110m.
However on taking his post a little over three months ago, insiders say that UC's new project director Howard Shiplee has ordered a complete rethink and ordered a thorough redesign of current software. Senior staff have warned that even after two years systems to prevent fraud and breaches of very sensitive financial data, categorised as "incredibly critical" to the project, are yet to be completed.
Other essential pieces of software including a calculator for staff to advise clients whether millions of their claimants will be financially better off doing more work, have only been ordered from Accenture in the last few weeks. "Without that they can't calculate when someone does go into work, what their top up should be," one source said.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/04/universal-credit-it-programme-benefits
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