Director General DWP Services & Fraud. Former Senior Responsible Owner for the implementation of Universal Credit (Oct 2014-March 2025)
Great Britain
Joined May 2015
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Dame Lesley Strathie: The HMRC boss who led through a period of enormous change - a role model for many of us and a great boss. civilserviceworld.com/in-dep…
Good synthesis of learnings from various projects instituteforgovernment.org.u…
Should be interesting
Not so simple? Comparing policy efforts to integrate means-tested benefits in France and the United Kingdom | Fran Bennett, Ewan Robertson | Tuesday 07 July 2026 12:00 - 13:00 | CASE Event sticerd.lse.ac.uk/case/_new/…
DWP confirms end of two major benefits in universal credit milestone | The Independent independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho…
Neil Couling retweeted
The OBR have released a new insightful report overpayments on fraud and overpayments in the benefit system. A brief🧵 explaining the key points:
Welfare trends report – June 2026 - Office for Budget Responsibility obr.uk/wtr/welfare-trends-re…
Neil Couling retweeted
Thanks to @DailyMail for correcting a column which claimed welfare spending has overtaken income tax receipts “for the first time”.
(Welfare, which includes state pensions, has been higher for years—although income tax may overtake it this year.)
fullfact.org/economy/mail-bo…
Neil Couling retweeted
From stakeholder to Committee member: read Fran Bennett's early reflections on SSAC from the 'other' side 👇
ssac.blog.gov.uk/2026-05-14/…
Neil Couling retweeted
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/social…
Neil Couling retweeted
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
ALT Introducing the Youth Guarantee Gateway. If you’re not earning or learning after 13 weeks on Universal Credit, we guarantee a referral to one of the following: a job; an apprenticeship; learning; work experience; vocational training; a workplace training programme with a guaranteed interview. Launching today in 81 Jobcentres.
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…
Ministerial leadership of public service reform | Institute for Government. Another IfG report that is worth a read instituteforgovernment.org.u…
The 15-year story of Universal Credit | Institute for Government. Worth a read for anyone trying to deliver major projects. #UniversalCredit instituteforgovernment.org.u…
Neil Couling retweeted
The £7.5bn savings across the public sector include almost £4bn generated by HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, and £2bn by DWP
civilserviceworld.com/profes…
Good work by our DWP fraud teams
dailymail.co.uk/news/article…
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.
Out Today: Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 8 January 2026. Statistics for the number of claims, starts, people and households on Universal Credit bit.ly/4rmDbqV
Neil Couling retweeted
In some respects, Universal Credit has worked as intended.
The system has successfuly reduced very high marginal effective tax rates and participation tax rates ⤵️
ALT Chart showing Proportion of workers eligible for a legacy benefit or Universal Credit facing marginal effective tax rates and participation tax rates above 70 per cent, under the legacy system and Universal Credit: UK, 2024-25