One of the firms involved said the extra work needed to bring the programs up to scratch could endanger upgrades to some councils' council tax and housing benefit systems.
The pension credits will replace the minimum income guarantee, the equivalent of income support for pensioners. Under the new system, pensioners will be means tested every five years instead of weekly – a move that the government hopes will speed up administration and make the system more efficient.
The software firms say they have not been told exactly how this means test will work and cannot finish the software that handles the testing until this is clarified.
A source at Academy Information Systems – which has contracts with more than 80 local authorities – said he had repeatedly emailed the Department for Work and Pensions to get clarification on the new credits but found they could not always answer his questions.
Although the pension credit tax credit systems are not due to go live until October and April 2003 respectively, they need to be in place by the beginning of the year.
Software firms cannot finish the software until they have been told exactly how the means test will work
Another source at software firm SX3 added that the delayed information was needed to fully complete the system. He said: "All we can do is provide software for the bits we understand."
In addition, the 10 housing benefit pathfinder schemes – which will trial-run a method of paying housing benefit direct to claimants – will come into effect over the same period, creating an extra headache for computer firms working on all three schemes at the same time.
The source at SX3 also pointed out the pathfinder was being implemented too quickly, adding: "The whole point of the pathfinder is to judge whether the system will work but the information could be skewed because [they are] trying to implement it too quickly."
The calculations to compare whether the new system was making people financially better off would have to be done manually at first, the source added.
Source
Housing Today
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