benefit Cap Delay as Computer Software Runs – Again – into Problems.

Ministers are facing accusations of chaos over welfare reform after announcing that the introduction of the government’s flagship benefits cap of £500 a week will be delayed across most of the country for up to six months.

The hold-up – believed to be the result of concerns over computer software – took councils, job centres and MPs by surprise and raised questions about the timetable for wider changes being planned to the entire benefits system.

What is going on?

The Observer revealed last year that there were internal government concerns over the benefits cap. A leaked letter written by the office of the communities secretary, Eric Pickles, warned that it risked making 40,000 families homeless and costing more than it saved because the homeless would have to be found emergency accommodation.

There have been signs that the government is experiencing difficulties with the computer software being used to implement its wider welfare reforms, including the planned switch to universal credit, which will replace several benefits with a single payment over four years starting next year.

More in the Observer.

In a nasty twist however we note that the cut (not ‘cap’) which principally affects Housing Benefit,  will affect “four London boroughs: Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey.”

The latter contains Tottenham, which has the highest unemployment rates in London and one of the worst  in the country.

As somebody who comes originally from North London I can also add that house prices there are sky-high.

These are also the same people with such confidence in the computer Software used in the Jobsearch system.