Universal Credit: a preliminary analysis

The government plans to redesign entirely the system of means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age adults by replacing them all with a single benefit, known as Universal Credit, to be administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. This Briefing Note analyses Universal Credit as set out in the government's White Paper, Universal Credit: Welfare that Works. A Welfare Reform Bill is due to be published later in January 2011, and this should contain more details of how Universal Credit will operate.