Universal Credit

Oh dear!  It’s all going to go horribly wrong isn’t it?  And if I come across the word “sustainable” one more time I’m going to hit somebody.  And don’t even get me started on “sustainability”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8758591/Universal-credit-benefits-reform-risks-being-another-Whitehall-slip-up.html

I think this only goes to underline the opinions given by one of the speakers at NWRA in March this year that the complexity of the IT system means that it is very unlikely it could be delivered in the timescales set - I seem to recall the phrase ‘not so much a car crash but a motorway pile up’ being used.

Are we heading for a re-run of the early years of Tax Credit, if so I’m going to book my nervous breakdown now!

“ very tight timetable” ...otherwise known as a potential ‘multi-billion pound disaster’.  Hope they are printing lots of food vouchers.

article by john seddon in guardian, under public leaders network, argues that universal credit ‘guaranteed to fail’ because computer system will not be able to deal with human variety -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/public-leaders-network/blog/2011/sep/29/universal-credit-fail?commentpage=last#end-of-comments

I’m not very impressed with the article - which is by way of trying to be an advert for the authors company.

Using computers to deliver universal credit will amount to an attempt to codify, in rules, the eligibility and entitlements for claimants. As rules can never deal with variety, the consequence will be poor-quality, hard-to-get services for those who are the most vulnerable in society.

For more than 60 years the benefits system has been able to codify, in rules, the eligibility and entitlements for claimants.  While there may be poor quality, hard to get services, I don’t think that’s to be blamed on the fact that regulations, in themselves, exist.

I explained all this to Terry Moran, director general of the universal credit programme at the DWP…..

I also offered Moran a better and cheaper alternative. People, not computers, are the means for absorbing variety. Many housing benefits services have been redesigned using the Vanguard method, where service delivery is studied and then redesigned.

I’m interested in how his Vanguard system has removed the need to codify, in rules, the eligibility and entitlements for claimants.  Are there HB departments now which don’t apply rules to eligibility and entitlement?

Ah! That explains a lot.

IBM and Cagemini have signed 7 year contracts to deliver universal credit IT according to Guardian Government Computing -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-computing-network/2011/sep/28/dwp-application-services-ibm-capgemini?CMP=twt_gu

More from Computer Weekly on the IBM contract to provide systems to deliver Universal Credit, amongst other things.

IBM signs £525m DWP contract to provide Universal Credit systems

guardian reporting that universal credit ‘app’ being developed -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/oct/19/welfare-reform-government-hopes-app