Cost of rolling out universal credit rises by £1.4bn, say auditors

NAO says benefit may not be able to meet aim of getting more people into work

There is still no evidence that universal credit benefit is meeting its central aim of getting more people into work – while the costs of implementing it have risen by £1.4bn and it remains beset by delays, according to the government spending watchdog.

In a critical report, the National Audit Office said that although more claimants were being paid on time, the controversial five week wait for a first universal credit payment continued to exacerbate many claimants’ debt problems and push them into hardship.

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