Universal Credit is due to expand to new areas in the north west from June. The programme, which is two years behind schedule, is relying on a prototype system which will be scrapped in three years. Development of a new system which will use open source to store and access data and take account of learning from the prototype is progressing.

Universal credit will roll six benefits into one and dispense £70 billion of benefit spending each year. The economic benefit over 10 years is estimated at £38 billion.

Ten sites are successfully running Universal Credit in England, Scotland and Wales and several thousand claimants are benefiting from an easier single benefit payment sticking with them as they move into work, rather than the current mixture of six in and out of work benefits.

Since October 2013 some 635,000 claimants have signed the Claimant Commitment, a new agreements setting out what they will do to find work in return for their benefits.

The Claimant Commitment requires jobseekers to agree the steps they will take each week to give them the best chance of getting into work. This could include registering and looking for work through Universal Jobmatch or a recruitment agency. It builds on help already in place and clearly spells out the consequences of failing to do what jobseekers have promised, or risk losing their benefit.