Disastrous universal credit IT system hangs in balance as Iain Duncan Smith quits

Op-ed: Ex-minister, who repeatedly hit "reset" on chaotic omni-dole project, backs out.

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[ChickenHawk]

Amongst other things, I am a trainee CAB advisor (although I am only speaking for myself here) and one thing that is clear in the materials is that Benefits and Welfare is a quagmire of confusing benefits, misleading names, and weird arbitrary distinctions. Employment and Support allowance for example doesn't have anything to do with Employment - a recipient may in fact be completely incapable of work.

Universal Credit is at its core such a common sense idea that it confuses me exactly as to why this IT system is so damn complicated. Rather than different benefits with different payout amounts, it's one rate, with some extras on top for certain groups (eg more if you're disabled and need extra funds for the extra living costs). Surely at its core it's just a billing system in reverse?

 

[ChickenHawk]

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ChickenHawk[/url]":173ppkme]Amongst other things, I am a trainee CAB advisor (although I am only speaking for myself here) and one thing that is clear in the materials is that Benefits and Welfare is a quagmire of confusing benefits, misleading names, and weird arbitrary distinctions. Employment and Support allowance for example doesn't have anything to do with Employment - a recipient may in fact be completely incapable of work.

Maybe they should give the Basic Income a shot? Everyone, whether in or out of work would get a guaranteed minimum income regardless of circumstances. As it gets added to your existing income, it'll get taxed back off you if you earn enough so the worst off will benefit the most. It'll make setting a minimum wage redundant as employers will have to offer a competitive rate that workers will actually bother working for. Plus, by dismantling the existing gargantuan administrative structure for deciding benefit eligibility, the government might be able to recover enough money to pay for the whole thing.

It'll also boost the creation of startups - a budding entrepreneur will be able to quit their day job and focus their savings and time on a business, without having to worry about how they'll eat/pay rent or rely on a spouse or family for support. This is a scenario which is not covered by the current benefits system.

I was in favour of a basic income, but this assignment I'm working on (I'm also a law student) leaves me not so sure. I'm worried if this is another Speenhamland, which guaranteed a minimum income to people - but it also required you to work if you could, with Speenhamland making up the difference between what you earned and what you needed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speenhamland_system

The Assignment is about Polanyi's book "the great transformation", and as he puts it whilst Speenhamland was well meaning, the result was actually it ended up depressing wages so pretty much everyone ended up on the breadline anyway.

Wondering also if work credits currently fit the same hole...

I think it can only have that positive impact if there really is no obligation to work...

I see some advantages in that in that unproductive people will leave the labour market, increasing average productivity; and that those who want to write a book or start a business can knowing the basics are covered... but I'm not sure its going to be financially feasable

But at the end of the day, surely thats still a tangent. ATOS or Fujitsu, or whoever it ends up being is still going to overcharge us for an IT system they might never deliver in order to manage it.