The 15-year story of Universal Credit: From disaster to completion

By the end of 2026, the final recipients of income-related Employment and Support Allowance will have been transferred onto Universal Credit, marking the end of a 15-year journey from white paper to final ‘migration’.

This report sets out the story of how the roll-out of Universal Credit is being completed, nearly nine years late and 15 years after it was first announced, and shared the lessons for government it offers. 

It explains what went so badly wrong in the early days of Universal Credit, the hugely ambitious plan to merge six means-tested in- and out-of-work benefits into one – and what then went right to get it to the point where the last of the legacy benefits is being shut down.

Nicholas Timmins, the report’s author, says: “The completion of the roll-out of Universal Credit is coming the better part of a decade late, but it is being completed. And given the huge scale of the change – and the fact that both Brexit and the pandemic halted development work for a time – that in itself is no mean feat.

“Its history contains important lessons for future projects, including aspects of governance – the programme prospered best when its programme board had an independent chair and when its senior responsible owner had long-standing continuity. 

“It’s ‘test and learn’ approach proved crucial. Part of that included DWP repeatedly consulting a wide range of charities, claimant advice organisations and others on how best to implement the massive task of migrating existing claimants on to the new benefit. That led to problems with the process being aired and tackled before they became large scale issues.”