Keeping it simple: getting the Universal Credit back on track

Universal Credit, a giant effort to weave together all the fraying strands of welfare policy, is now unravelling fast.

It all seemed so simple and intuitive when the idea was floated. Pay people more when in work than when on benefits, roll the myriad of benefits and tax credits into a single benefit, reduce the colossal claims process for individuals; and unearth some administrative efficiencies to boot. So intuitive, in fact, that the Opposition supported the underlying principles of the Universal Credit.

Recent debate suggests that achieving this simplicity is proving ferociously complex. However, new Social Market Foundation research with low income families has found that while the Universal Credit is in grave danger of backfiring, additional policy reforms could get it back on track. Some cause for hope, therefore, as Iain Duncan Smith prepares to be interrogated in the committee rooms today.