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24/05/2012
Universal Credit Benefit System Brought Forward
Plans to introduce a new single benefit, which the government claims will simplify the welfare system, have been brought forward by six months.
The streamlined Universal Credit, which replaces a range of existing benefits, will be trialled in Tameside, Oldham, Wigan and Warrington from next April.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said that this will be followed by a roll-out in October 2013.
This new benefit replaces the current income-related Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income support, working tax credits, child tax credits and housing benefit.
Its roll-out will initially be on a small scale in each region, with new claims for the existing benefits entirely phased out by April 2014, and the transfer of millions of existing claimants to the new system to be completed by 2017.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "By sweeping away the complexities of the current benefit system, Universal Credit will be simpler and more straightforward for people to claim and this early roll-out marks a significant step in the delivery of our welfare reforms.
"The early introduction of Universal Credit demonstrates our ongoing commitment to transforming the welfare system and will improve the lives of millions of claimants by incentivising work and making work pay."
(H)
The streamlined Universal Credit, which replaces a range of existing benefits, will be trialled in Tameside, Oldham, Wigan and Warrington from next April.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said that this will be followed by a roll-out in October 2013.
This new benefit replaces the current income-related Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income support, working tax credits, child tax credits and housing benefit.
Its roll-out will initially be on a small scale in each region, with new claims for the existing benefits entirely phased out by April 2014, and the transfer of millions of existing claimants to the new system to be completed by 2017.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "By sweeping away the complexities of the current benefit system, Universal Credit will be simpler and more straightforward for people to claim and this early roll-out marks a significant step in the delivery of our welfare reforms.
"The early introduction of Universal Credit demonstrates our ongoing commitment to transforming the welfare system and will improve the lives of millions of claimants by incentivising work and making work pay."
(H)
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