Labour's costing of Universal Credit needs context

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith caused a stir at the weekend as he defended his reforms to the welfare system live on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

His Labour shadow Rachel Reeves was critical of the reforms, saying that "Universal Credit [is] costing an astonishing £161,905 per person."

We've looked at how Labour has estimated the costs of implementing Universal Credit before, and found that it has split the total amount spent on the reform so far between the number of people claiming the benefit.

However the total spent will include the costs of signing many long-term contracts which will continue to operate for years to come, while the roll-out to claimants is still in its early stages. Once the scheme is fully operational, we would expect the 'cost per claimant' to fall significantly.

This is actually evident in Ms Reeves' claim: while Labour's cost when we last last looked at it in February was £190,000 per claimant, today it has fallen to £161,905 per claimant, presumably because more people are now in receipt of the benefit (the latest caseload figures are here).