One 'credit' to replace benefits

Millions of welfare claimants are set to have their benefits scrapped and replaced with a single "universal credit", reports suggest.

The decision represents a victory for Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith in his battle with the Treasury over his plans to overhaul the welfare system. Under the changes, housing benefit, income support, incapacity benefit and dozens of other payments will be swept away in a major reform programme intended to break the culture of welfare dependency by making work pay.

The new system will guarantee that anyone taking a job will be better off than on the dole.