Transparency data
Government Major Projects Portfolio data for DWP: quarter 2, 2013 (CSV)
Updated 20 August 2013
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| Project name | Enabling Retirement Savings Programme | Fraud and Error Programme | Incapacity Benefit Reassessment | Personal Independence Payment Implementation | Specialist Disability Employment Programme | State Pension Reform - Single Tier | Universal Credit Programme | Work Programme | Youth Contract | Benefit Cap | Child Maintenance Group Change | Central Payment System |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP | DWP |
| MPA RAG rating (A Delivery Confidence Assessment of the project at a fixed point in time, using a five-point scale, Red – Amber/Red – Amber – Amber/Green – Green; definitions in the MPA Annual Report) | Amber | Amber/Red | Green | Amber/Red | Amber | Amber/Green | Amber/Red | Amber | Green | Amber/Red | Amber/Red | Green |
| Description / aims | The Enabling Retirement Savings Programme (ERSP) was set up to implement the Government’s workplace pension reforms. The overarching aim of the workplace pension reforms is to get more people saving more for their retirement. The Programme ‘went live’ in October 2012, delivering: · Automatic-enrolment - a new duty on employers to automatically enrol their eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. To increase the incentive to remain saving in a pension scheme there is a mandatory employer contribution. · The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) - offers low cost pension provision to individuals on low to moderate earnings and their employers. NEST must accept any employer who wishes to use it to meet their employer duty. · There is a proportionate compliance regime - run by the Pension Regulator (tPR) to support these measures. The implementation period for the Programme runs to six years. Employers subject to the new duty are being 'staged' in by size, starting with the largest, over the period October 2012 to February 2018. Contributions in to pension schemes will be phased in over time to provide a period of adjustment for employers and individuals, with full contributions being paid from October 2018. Once fully implemented, we expect to see an increase the number of people saving or saving more into a workplace pension by between 6 to 9 million. | The Fraud and Error Programme will deliver services to prevent and detect fraud and error in the welfare benefit system. The Programme will adopt a phased delivery approach between 2012 and 2015 and build on the successful work of the "Spend to Save" data matching activity to ensure a sustainable reduction in losses in the benefit and tax credit system. The Fraud and Error Programme will be introducing a range of new controls and services delivered across DWP, HMRC and Local Authorities as required. The Programme will introduce an Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS) to gather and process all data on fraud and error, brigading analytical support into a central unit and a Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS) to replace current Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) of DWP, Local Authorities and HMRC with a single service, and new sanctions including tougher penalties and loss of benefits. | The IB (IS) Reassessment Project delivered the reassessment of all Incapacity Benefits claimants, all those claiming Income Support on grounds of incapacity, and working age claimants of Severe Disablement Allowance, for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) using the Work Capability Assessment. Reassessment commenced October 2010 and will complete in 2014. The Project objectives are: 1) IB customers who are assessed as being entitled to ESA gain from a new, simpler, more active benefit - those not entitled will have IB withdrawn. 2) Everyone who is able, engages with back to work support including through the Work Programme. 3) Through the Work Capability Assessment, we ensure that the right people are on the right benefit and subject to the appropriate conditionality. 4) All disabled people and people with health conditions are treated equally over time and receive fair levels of financial support. 5) Administration on the same systems for all those on incapacity benefits, cutting down on error and dual provision. 6) A transfer to new systems that is as seamless as possible, with claimants' rate of payment protected as part of the transition and no administration interruption in payment. | Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be introduced from April 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16-64. It will be targeted to those people who face the greatest challenge to remaining independent and participating in society. It will provide a more objective assessment of needs and be more responsive to changes in those needs. PIP will be simpler to claim and to administer. The Personal Independence Payment Implementation Programme will: • Deliver a controlled start for New Claims in April 2013, followed by a planned national roll out in June 2013. Reassessment of existing DLA claimants will commence in October 2013 with reassessments of indefinite DLA awards not commencing until Oct 2015 • Introduce new assessment criteria with assessment being provided by Health Professionals through Independent Assessment Providers. • Provide new business processes and supporting IT for staff and the Independent Assessment Providers.• Deliver more targeted support for those most in need. | Implementation of the recommendations from the independent SAYCE Review: 1. Investing more funding and improving the delivery and services available through Access to Work; 2. Moving Remploy out of government control, seeking other entities to take over the running of businesses and services, and supporting ex Remploy employees made redundant as part of this process; 3. Implementing decisions made in the forthcoming Disability Strategy regarding the future of Residential Training Colleges. | The white paper "The single tier pension; a simple foundation for saving”, impact assessment and draft Bill were published in January 2013 setting out the proposals for state pension reform. The Work and Pensions Select Committee (WPSC) undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill and published their report on 4 April 2013. The committee broadly supported the reforms which will deliver four key outocmes: clarity; a reduction in means testing; a fairer system, appropriate to the lives and employment patterns of today's working-age population; and improved sustainability. The Pensions Bill 2013 was introduced in Parliament on 9 May and the Government responded to WPSC report on 10 May. DWP will work with HMRC to implement the policy intent of a simpler State Pension by: 1) Introducing a single-tier State Pension set above the basic level of means-tested support. 2) Ending the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit for future pensioners. 3) Ending contracting out for Defined Benefit schemes. 4) Modernising the delivery of the Pension Statement service to be digital by default. | Universal Credit provides a new single system of means-tested support for working-age people who are in or out of work. It aims to reduce the number of workless households by reducing the financial and administrative barriers to work that exist in the current system of benefits and tax credits, and replacing the complexity of the income-related benefits system (Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-related Jobseeker’s Allowance, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit) with a single payment which supports people to find work, find more work, and find better paid work. | The Government’s Coalition Agreement gave a commitment to "create a single welfare to work programme to help all unemployed people get back into work". The Work Programme, which has been in place nationally since June 2011, does this by providing an integrated package of back-to-work support for a range of claimants - from Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) recipients who have been out of work for some time, to claimants who may have received Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Incapacity Benefits. The Programme design offers: 1) Support for all long-term unemployed people, those who spend a continuous period of 12 months on JSA. 2) Early access to the Programme for all young people on JSA to recognise the risks of long-run problems for this group. 3) Early access for JSA recipients with particular disadvantage in the labour market. 4) Access for those ESA recipients most likely to benefit from early work preparation interventions so that more people become fit for work more quickly, and can move into work rapidly as they become able to do so. The Innovative features of the Work programme include: 1) Payment largely by results for the first time 2) Long-term focus – once a claimant is referred to a Work Programme prime provider, they remain with that provider for 2 years 3) Differential pricing – payments up to £14,000 for getting those with the biggest barriers to employment into sustained work 4) Process not prescribed – providers are given the freedom to innovate and use what works best. | The Youth Contract was a response to unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment. The offer made through the Youth Contract is a substantial addition to the range of support already available for unemployed young people through jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme. Taken as a whole, the Youth Contract will ensure that every unemployed young person who needs support to gain and keep employment will get it. The Youth Contract is worth almost £1 billion over the next 3 years (April 2012 - March 2015). At the core of the Youth Contract is: 1) 160,000 wage incentives worth £2,275 each, for employers who recruit an 18-24 year-old from the Work Programme into sustainable work (in July 2012 eligibility was extended to those 18-24 year olds residing in one of 20 LAAs [youth unemployment hotspots] who reach 6 months on benefit. 2) An extra 250,000 Work Experience or Sector-Based Work Academy places over the next three years, ensuring that there is an offer of a Work Experience place for every 18 to 24 year-old who wants one, before they enter the Work Programme. 3) At least 20,000 extra incentive payments worth £1500 each for employers to take on young people as apprentices (a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills-led element). 4) Extra support through Jobcentre Plus for all 18-24 year olds, consisting of weekly, rather than fortnightly signing, extra advisor time to provide more back to work support and a careers interview from the National Careers Service. The Government is also making extra funding available for the Department for Education to support the most vulnerable NEET 16 and 17 year olds into learning, an apprenticeship or job with training - this provision began in September 2012. The Department has worked with Work Programme providers, employers and key stakeholders to ensure the successful introduction of the Youth Contract from 2 April 2012, and this work will continue to maximise the take up of the additional support. | From 15 April 2013 the Government has begun the phased roll out of a cap on the total amount of benefit that working-age people can receive so that households on out-of-work benefits will no longer receive more in welfare payments than the average weekly wage for working households | The central premise of the Government’s vision is that the existing child maintenance system fails to provide support for parents to work collaboratively. Wherever possible, we will support separated parents to work together in the interests of their children and set up their own, family-based child maintenance arrangements. For those who are not able to do this, we have introduced the 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme, administered by the Child Maintenance Service. The 2012 Scheme delivers two critical changes to the policy and regulations which simplify the approach to child maintenance calculations, and a new IT system to administer the 2012 Scheme that seeks to improve our ability to deliver good service. The 2012 Scheme is to be launched in two phases. | The implementation of the Central Payment System (CPS) will provide DWP with a fully integrated payment and accounting solution which will handle in excess of £130bn of annual expenditure. It will bring with it significant improvements in the level of customer service, deliver the flexibility needed to support future methods of payment and provide opportunities to identify instances of fraud and official error. It will also introduce higher levels of resilience to our business, reduce our dependency on old systems and deliver a flexible platform to meet future business needs. |
| Departmental narrative, actions on Delivery Confidence Assessment | We have successfully delivered all the key components of the workplace pensions reforms to time. We have scalability built into our delivery model to manage the expected increases in volumes through the implementation period. However, we recognise the challenge of successfully delivering the programme objectives over a 6-year implementation period. To help inform our understanding and manage the delivery of the reforms we are broadening our stakeholder engagement activity across the pensions industry and with employers; and further developing our monitoring and evaluation strategy. Balancing our successful track record on delivery against the challenges we face, the Programme Board rate the overall Programme status as Amber. | The last MPA review assessed the Programme as Amber/Red. Actions are in hand to address all the recommendations including: a restructured Programme Board; filling of the majority of Programme vacancies; strengthening senior level leadership in Programme Management and IT delivery; and a refreshed Programme Plan. The Programme Business Case was updated in January 2013, and will be updated again ahead of the next MPA Review (once full IT costs are agreed). Areas of IT cost reduction and the technical approach are being pro-actively reviewed. | Incapacity Benefit Reassessment is on schedule and is expected to complete as planned in April 2014. | The MPA review team recognised the huge progress made by the Programme Team to agree a delivery approach that continues to align with the policy and reduces some of the implementation risk. The review team were concerned about the complexity of the Programme and gave a delivery confidence rating of Amber. An Action Plan was developed by the Programme to address the recommendations and all actions are complete. | The Programme is working closely with commercial and legal colleagues to unravel the complexities around the sales and asset disposal processes required to move Remploy out of government control; A number of the Access to Work Sayce recommendations have now been implemented, and work continues with DWP Operations to deliver more; The Programme is taking forward all recommendations from the last MPA review. The next review will be scheduled towards the end of 2013. | The white paper was published on 14th January and the Impact Assessment on 18th January. The Pensions Bill was introduced in Parliament on 9 May. The project is at an early stage but on course to deliver on schedule. | This rating dates back to September 2012, more than seven months ago. Since then, significant progress has been made in the delivery of Universal Credit. The Pathfinder was successfully launched and we are on course both to expand the Pathfinder in July 2013 and start the progressive national roll-out of Universal Credit in October. | The Work Programme is getting people off benefits and into work. 56 per cent of first starters – those claimants who were referred in June 2011 – have spent time off benefits, and according to industry data there have been over 200,000 job starts. Although job outcomes have been building up slower than expected, performance is moving in the right direction; over 40 per cent of all job outcomes came in the final two months for which we have statistics. We are starting to see differences emerge in provider performance. We are managing all providers robustly in order to drive performance and we are taking decisive action with those who are not delivering the standards we expect. We have sent formal contract letters to the weakest 7 contract holders to make clear that they must do better or we will take action against them, and have continued intense management of contracts throughout 2013. If performance doesn't improve sufficiently, we have powers to shift market share and to terminate contracts and will not hesitate to use them where a provider’s performance continues to fall short. The next round of referral, attachment and outcome statistics will be published on June 27 2013. | The Project went live in April 2012, and all DWP elements were implemented to agreed timescales. 7 of the 8 MPA recommendations have been acted upon. For example, key indicators of success and management information requirements were agreed and are discussed monthly between officials from DWP, the Implementation Unit, HMT and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The recomendation to appoint a Joint Senior Responsible Officer for Other Government Departments was rejected but DWP have adopted a joined-up approach with colleagues across government, highlighted by these monthly meetings. | The project engaged extensively with the 4 Local Authorities (LA) and has developed an approach for learning lessons through phased rollout for sharing with others ahead of National rollout in July 2013. There are robust arrangements in place for engaging stakeholders' on the national implementation. The IT has remained stable and is performing to standards to enable the process of capping to occur. There are robust arrangements in place for managing the process of capping appropriate households with the 4 LAs involved in phased rollout through daily calls and capturing of Management Information. | The existing child support system is outdated and ineffective; relying on systems introduced in 1993 and 2003 which now operate in parallel. As well as delivering a simpler and improved solution for family-based arrangements, the new scheme builds and resolves the fractured and outdated IT. An Assurance of Actions Plan (AAP) was commissioned to review progress against the recommendations of the Project Assessment Review undertaken by the MPA in April 2012. The April 2012 Project Assessment Review assessed delivery confidence as Red due to the lack of a credible plan from which a delivery date with a good level of confidence could be agreed. This was improved to Amber in July 2012 as progress had been made on all recommendations which increased the delivery confidence, and agreement to go live with a phased pathfinder approach was confirmed by the Secretary of State. | Following re-launch in 2009, the Programme made good progress against milestones. Although there were some changes to plan, the costs remained broadly in line with original estimates and the Programme successfully implemented two major releases, the second of which went live in January 2012. This was followed by an extensive roll out to offices and feeder systems which was completed successfully in August 2012. The Programme Board agreed to formal closure in August and a Lessons Learned Report was produced covering the key learning for DWP. Now well established as a critical component of live operations, CPS is in good shape. It has processed more than one billion customer payments and will form the payment and accounting platform for the new Welfare Reform processes. |
| Project - start date | 18/05/2007 | 02/04/2012 | 09/07/2009 | 31/10/2011 | 16/02/2012 | 27/02/2012 | 17/11/2011 | 25/11/2010 | 19/01/2012 | 19/04/2012 | 01/08/2009 | 01/09/2008 |
| Project - end date | 01/10/2018 | 01/03/2015 | 23/03/2012 | 31/03/2016 | 31/07/2014 | 31/10/2017 | 31/12/2017 | 18/10/2011 | 21/06/2012 | 31/07/2013 | 29/01/2014 | 21/06/2012 |
| Departmental narrative on schedule, including any deviation from planned schedule | Project on schedule and commenced in October 12. | Savings continue to be generated as planned, through Spend to Save data matching and risk assessment initiatives. The Programme has delivered savings of £814m to end March 2013. A number of new sanctions and penalties have been successfully implemented into live operations. SFIS pilots continue to roll out. Mobile Regional Taskforce anti-fraud campaigns and Credit Reference Agency data matching pilots have been introduced, and are undergoing evaluation. Active discussions are ongoing regarding the IT options and technical solution for strategic IRIS capability. The Programme has delivered stage 1 IRIS capability through new "pre-claims" checks to provide counter fraud measures in line with the roll out of Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment. | Progress against target is monitored monthly. Published statistics show that up to August 2012 700,000 cases had undergone reassessment with 29% being found fit for work, 41% moved to the ESA Work Related Activity Group, and 30% moved to the ESA Support Group | The Programme successfully implemented a controlled start for new claims in April 2013. | The Programme is on course to deliver as per schedule. | Project is at an early stage but is still on course to deliver as per schedule. | The Universal Credit Pathfinder was successfully launched on 29th April in areas of Greater Manchester and Cheshire. Ashton-under-Lyne is accepting claims for Universal Credit. Wigan, Warrington and Oldham are trialling the Claimant Commitment and applying a more intensive approach to work search and ensuring new JSA claimants are signed onto Universal Jobmatch. We are on course to expand the Pathfinder in July when Wigan Warrington and Oldham will also take claims for Universal Credit. This careful and controlled approach will ensure that all aspects of Universal Credit are tested – starting small and refining before we start the progressive national roll out from October. Our plan is to make sure the full transition to Universal Credit is delivered in a safe and managed way. In terms of how we manage delivery implementation from the start of progressive roll-out in October to full transition in 2017, there are three key factors we will consider. First, we will learn valuable lessons from the Pathfinder – that is the whole point of a Pathfinder. We will examine the results forensically, and apply them in rolling out Universal Credit nationally. Second, David Pitchford has been acting as interim Chief Executive for Universal Credit following the sad death of Philip Langsdale. As Head of the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority, he has provided valuable insights into the most effective way to deliver a complex IT project of this scale, in line with the Government’s Digital Strategy – including latest thinking on the best enabling technologies and platforms, how best to manage suppliers and deliver value to money. Third, Howard Shiplee, the man that built the Olympic Park, has now taken over from David Pitchford in overseeing the delivery of Universal Credit. He will be using these ideas in finalising the detail of the long-term delivery plan for UC, together with his own wealth of experience in successful project delivery. | The Work Programme was launched on time on 10 June 2011. Previous schemes had taken four years to introduce, whereas the Work Programme was launched in just over 12 months. The NAO stated: "Launching an innovative scheme to a very challenging timetable was a significant administrative achievement." | Following an aggressive timetable the Project went live in April 12, as planned, with all DWP elements implemented to agreed timescales: we engaged employers, their representatives and Work Programme providers to design a simple claims process for wage incentives and continued to engage these stakeholders into live-running; additional advisers were recruited to facilitate a focus on young people and provide additional support to 18-24 year-olds in Jobcentres; and employers were engaged by Jobcentre Plus at both local and national levels to ensure work experience and sector-based work academy places were available on an ongoing basis. We also continued to engage with stakeholders across government in DfE, BIS, HMT and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister into live-running. | The project went live in Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey from 15 April 2013, and will roll out nationally from 15 July 2013. All appropriate cases will be capped by the end of September. | The 2012 scheme was duly launched on 10 December 2012 on a pathfinder basis. It was initially opened to new applicants with 4 or more qualifying children and will gradually be opened up to all applicants over the course of 2013. Once the 2012 scheme has opened to all new applicants and is seen to be working well, we will launch Phase 2 and introduce charging. The Department has just announced plans to progress with case closure and charging in response to the consultation Supporting separated families; securing children's futures. | Final programme closure took place in August 2012 to ensure full and effective handover to DWP Finance teams, responsible for managing "business as usual". |
| 2012/13 Budget (£million) | 112 | 156.3 | 143.6 | 139.43 | 33.52 | 2.7 | 386.5 | 735.7 | 139.97 | 28.53 | 72.5 | 23.5 |
| 2012/13 Forecast (£million) | 98.8 | 128.65 | 140.99 | 126.72 | 35.63 | 1.12 | 378.99 | 777 | 182.04 | 27 | 87.35 | 22.315 |
| Total budgeted whole life costs (£million) (including non-government costs) | 1004.3 | 770.3 | 891.8 | 2771.379 | 202.98 | 114.16 | 12845.38 | 5626.7 | 741.93 | 49.03 | 1203.39 | 284.9 |
| Departmental narrative on budget/forecast variance for 2012/13 (if variance is more than 5%) | The variance in the 2012/13 Programme forecast is largely due to the savings achieved through further scrutiny of the resource requirements for the Employer Compliance Regime, and savings identified on Programme external communications campaigns. | Forecast was below budget largely as a result of the impact of ongoing work to ensure the right decisions are made in relation to the IT solution and the continuation of Pilots. As a result the Programme's in year forecast has reduced significantly since the above figures were submitted | Project has a minor variance of 2.61% against budget when transferred to operations due to slightly lower contract charges. | The 12/13 budget was set early in 2012 and was based on an outline IT commercial pricing estimates at an early stage of PIP design. Subsequently estimates were updated as commercial negotiations progressed and cost estimates were reviewed. This allowed the forecast to be reduced whilst maintaining delivery plans. | The Budget was based on early estimates of costs associated with Remploy Stage 1. The forecast reflected updated the position as negotiations for contract terminations etc, progressed. | The above figures have been superseded by those published in the white paper in January 2013. As part of the Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Single Tier delivery date is to be brought forward to April 2016. The costs at this stage are very high level estimates which will be determined during the project feasibility phase. | At the time of the review, there was a slight variance against budget. | Work Programme budgets vary automatically in relation to the number of claimants referred to the programme, and the levels of performance achieved. The 2012/13 budget was based on the expectation of lower volumes than were initially predicted in the business case, and of a slower build-up of performance than was initially predicted in the business case. | Variance is due to re-profiling. The new profiling takes into account the time lag between participants starting on the Work Programme (the basis for the original profile), and participants entering and remaining in work for 26 weeks (the basis for the new profile). As of November 2012, the overall project forecast remained within 5% of overall budget. Actual spend depends to an extent on employer appetite for wage incentives - and in the early days, ability to deliver on the Wage Incentive was dependent on forms being distributed by Work Programme prime and sub contractors. Since bringing distribution in house via Jobcentre Plus, delivery of the Wage Incentive has improved and thus spend increased. In the event of an eventual underspend, the Department is ensuring that funding remains directed to supporting employment for young people. | The 12/13 budget was set early in 2012 and was based on early estimates. Subsequently estimates were updated as the project progressed and cost estimates were reviewed. This allowed the forecast to be reduced whilst maintaining delivery plans. | The forecast overspend is due to the implementation of the Child Maintenance 2012 system in December 2012 rather than 6 weeks earlier as originally planned. The additional costs were therefore necessary to minimise the risk of much greater additional costs being incurred when full rollout of the 2012 scheme takes place. The additional costs in 2012/13 have been met through efficiencies from other budget lines to ensure the whole life costs remain within 5%. | There was a reduction of 5% against 2012/13 budget allocation, as the risks associated with the activation of the final payment feed were managed successfully and were not realised. |
| Departmental narrative on budgeted whole life costs | The whole life costs cover the period from 2007/08 when the programme started through to 2017/18 - the business case period. The funding will cover: the set up and running costs of NEST (through repayable loan); the set-up and running costs of the Employer Compliance Regime; the communications costs for raising awareness through a series of targeted awareness campaigns; and the costs associated with running the Programme Management Office. | The budget whole life costs represented an initial estimate of the overall cost of the Programme, the emerging view is that the overall Programme costs could fall below the £770m estimate. | Budgeted whole life costs are on track as per Business Case. | Budgeted whole life costs are to 2021/22 and were set in early 2012. The emerging view is that costs may reduce over the whole life. | Whole life costs assume that £15m savings are recycled into Access to Work in the final year of the current spending review. | The above figures have been superseded by the figures published in the white paper in January 2013. As part of the Budget, the Chancellor announced that the Single Tier delivery date is to be brought forward to April 2016. The costs at this stage are very high level estimates which will be determined during the project feasibility phase. | The budgeted whole life costs will be contained within any Treasury limits and approvals. | Work Programme budgets vary automatically in relation to the number of claimants referred to the programme, and the levels of performance achieved. | Since project went live, timing and schedule of payments to employers has changed slightly from original budget plans, but project is within 5% variance of overall budget (as of November 2012). | Project on track | Budgeted whole life costs are within 5% variance. | Project now complete |
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