Universal Credit

Universal Credit is the Government's benefits system to support people who are low paid or out of work. It was intended to combine or replace six other benefits including jobseeker's allowance, child tax credit and housing benefit and started to be rolled out at job centres in 2013. Universal Credits have been dogged by controversy over the cost of the system, the difficulty of applying, delays in payment, harsh sanctions for claimants and delays in fully moving people across from the old system to the new one. See all our universal credit stories below. You can also sign up for the Echo newsletter or click on buttons to take you to related areas of our website