Nursery World - Guide to: Universal Credit changes 2018

In the latest Budget, the Government has changed its plans for Universal Credit. Here’s what these announcements mean for you. By the Resolution Foundation’s Laura Gardiner

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THE ROAD TO UNIVERSAL CREDIT

What’s changed?

The Government was expected to slow down the rate at which existing benefit recipients are moved onto Universal Credit (UC) following a series of problems with the benefit. In the Budget 2018, it sensibly confirmed that this process will be delayed – it will now not start properly until late 2020 – in order to allow the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) more time to make improvements.

The Budget also included practical measures to ease the transition, including the ‘running on’ of key out-of-work benefits for an extra two weeks when benefit claimants are required to make a UC claim. This builds on the Budget 2017 decision to ‘run on’ Housing Benefit in the same way, and should reduce the number of people subject to the five-week wait for their first UC payment.

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