Stephen Timms MP, Labour’s Acting Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, responding to the latest Universal Credit statistics, said:

“Four years after Universal Credit was launched there are just 89,357 people claiming the new benefit. At the glacial rate the government are rolling out Universal Credit, it will take 430 years to complete the programme.

“Universal Credit is running years late. Iain Duncan Smith should call in the National Audit Office to urgently review its management, with a view to deliver value for money for taxpayers and to get a grip of the endless delays to this £12.8 billion programme.”

Ends

Notes to Editors:

1. Latest figures show that 1.2 per cent of the DWP caseload are on Universal Credit. At a rate of 1.2 per cent per parliament it will take 86 parliaments, or 430 years, for Universal Credit to be fully rolled out.