Neil Couling

Access to Work announcement questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statem…

From stakeholder to Committee member: read Fran Bennett's early reflections on SSAC from the 'other' side 👇 ssac.blog.gov.uk/2026-05-14/fro…

Out Today: Universal Credit quarterly statistics, to 12 February 2026. Statistics for the number of people by geography, age, conditionality regime, duration, employment (including self employment), ethnicity and Move to Universal Credit bit.ly/4wr0bYE

I get praise in some quarters for staying with #UniversalCredit for 10 years as SRO - considered unusual. Stephen Kerr of the Scottish Government has been with devolution of social security from the start (from Smith Commission to now). A fine achievement gov.scot/publications/s…

The new Youth Guarantee Gateway will help almost one million young people looking for work over the next 3 years It’s launching today in 81 Jobcentres across Great Britain and will be in all Jobcentres by the end of the year

Latest #UniversalCredit commencement order which closes ESA (with some limited exceptions) from 30 June 2026. Also allows for shortened migration notice periods to make that possible (used before when closing JSA, IS & tax credits) legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/409/…

Ministerial leadership of public service reform | Institute for Government. Another IfG report that is worth a read instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/mi…

The 15-year story of Universal Credit | Institute for Government. Worth a read for anyone trying to deliver major projects. #UniversalCredit instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/un…

The £7.5bn savings across the public sector include almost £4bn generated by HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, and £2bn by DWP civilserviceworld.com/professions/ar…

Good work by our DWP fraud teams dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

Latest #UniversalCredit stats. Some expansion in available information. Most notably how much of the growth in caseload derives from moving legacy cases over to UC from other benefits.

In some respects, Universal Credit has worked as intended. The system has successfuly reduced very high marginal effective tax rates and participation tax rates ⤵️

Latest #UniversalCredit statistics

@Salientwork Sad news indeed - a great non exec indeed

So sad to hear of the passing of the wonderful Sarah Anderson. A great non-exec in the world of employability support in both Jobcentreplus and the Employment Service. We could do with more of her like. ⁦@NeilCouling⁩ theguardian.com/society/2026/j…

The #UniversalCredit stats today. Now nearly 800k former ESA claimants on UC. Nearly done.

@rearend52 DM me some cases. We are clearing them as part of the plan, but I don’t mind checking all is in hand

Completing the move to Universal Credit: Completing the move for households previously on Employment and Support Allowance - GOV.UK gov.uk/government/pub…

On the fifteenth anniversary of the publication of the #UniversalCredit White Paper the latest stats on the final phase of its implementation. Nearly there Move to Universal Credit, July 2022 to end September 2025 - GOV.UK gov.uk/government/sta…

@rearend52 There’s no “huge backlog” but we are working through cases who have asked whether they qualify for SDP so any transition includes that in calculations at the point of a move. Will all be done in ti,e for closing ESA in March

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 (Commencement No. 35) (Abolition of Benefits) Order 2025 - legislation that closes Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance from April 2026 as part of the move to complete the implementation of #UniversalCredit. legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/1148…