Five more things you need to know about the IDS reforms

Last November, I put together a ten-point summary of IDS’s benefit reforms – so why add five more points now? Two reasons. First, it’s worth dwelling on what, I believe, will be one of this government’s defining achievements. Second – and far more prosaic – the Insistute for Fiscal Studies released a report on the matter yesterday. The following points have all been harvested from that document, and represent the IFS’s judgement, so to speak. Only one judgement among many, but one that warrants some attention. Here goes:

1. Who gains and who loses (in financial terms)? This question courses through most of the IFS report, and stands out in most of the news coverage this morning. But before we get into all that, it’s worth pointing out that no-one will suffer from the immediate transfer to IDS’s universal credit. The wonks at the DWP have wired things so that people’s benefit levels don’t shoot downwards when these reforms are introduced.