Advertisement
News

Esther McVey has been accused of misleading parliament over Universal Credit

The welfare secretary has come under fire from the National Audit Office, which claims she made incorrect statements to MPs about the rollout of Universal Credit following a damning report

The National Audit Office (NAO), the UK’s public spending watchdog, has accused Work and Pensions secretary Esther McVey of misleading MPs about its concerns around the controversial Universal Credit roll-out.

NAO chief Sir Amyas Morse criticised the cabinet minister in an open letter, seen exclusively by The Times newspaper, complaining over a number of inaccuracies in her presentation to parliament on its critical report of the roll-out.

Amyas said the minister’s response to the watchdog’s critical report of the rollout was “incorrect”, and accused the Cabinet minister of misrepresenting his report, before branding her behaviour “odd” amid suggestions she had refused to meet with him.

Amyas wrote that her statement claiming Universal Credit is working “has not been proven.”

He said the minister’s claim that the NAO was concerned the benefit is currently “rolling out too slowly” and needs to “continue at a faster rate” is also inaccurate. In the letter Amyas wrote: “What we do know from the department’s surveys is that although 83 per cent of claimants responding said they were satisfied with the departments’ customer service, 40 per cent of them said they were experiencing financial difficulties, and 25 per cent said they couldn’t make an online claim.”

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertisement

The report from the NAO, published in June, found that the roll-out has not “delivered value for money and it is uncertain if it ever will.”

Image: Getty

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

READER-SUPPORTED SINCE 1991

Reader-supported journalism that doesn’t just report problems, it helps solve them.

Recommended for you

Read All
Asylum seekers can stay at Epping hotel after government overturns court ruling
Epping asylum hotel protesters
Asylum hotels

Asylum seekers can stay at Epping hotel after government overturns court ruling

A day inside the clogged-up asylum court at the heart of Starmer's plans to close migrant hotels
An illustration of a family waving paper at a locked door
Social Justice

A day inside the clogged-up asylum court at the heart of Starmer's plans to close migrant hotels

Could the UK government end use of asylum hotels by 2026?
Asylum hotels

Could the UK government end use of asylum hotels by 2026?

Home Office halves time for new refugees to find a home in move 'guaranteed to increase homelessness'
a tent on the street
Homelessness

Home Office halves time for new refugees to find a home in move 'guaranteed to increase homelessness'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payments: Where to get help in 2025 now the scheme is over

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue
4.

Citroën Ami: the tiny electric vehicle driving change with The Big Issue