The Coalition's flagship Universal Credit (UC) welfare reform programme is running further behind schedule and has no back up plan in case newly developed online services crash, auditors have reported.

A study from the National Audit Office (NAO) finds the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has managed the risks of delivery failure by pushing back the timetable for introducing the single benefit nationally – which merges six separate welfare payments into a single monthly payment.

Since fears about the viability of the programme caused Whitehall risk managers to reset the programme, DWP officials have opted for a more costly twin-track approach to rolling out the scheme's IT infrastructure.