Ministers have bowed to pressure and are planning to further delay the rollout of the flagship welfare reform, universal credit. The system, which will merge six benefits into one payment, has been beset with problems. Leaked documents seen by the BBC reveal plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to prevent claimants suffering hardship as they move onto it. The government said it always intended to introduce the benefit slowly. Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey told the Commons on Monday that she had been discussing details of universal credit with the chancellor - and details would be revealed in the Budget later this month. Without going into details, Ms McVey said the roll-out would be "slow and measured" and start in 2019 with "a small amount of people - maybe 10,000 - to ensure that the system is right". The system was supposed to be up and running by April 2017, but is now not expected to be fully operational until December 2023.

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