The government has stated that it will be developing two separate IT systems for Universal Credit. It is also unclear about how long this will continue.
'Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written statement of 5 December 2013, on universal credit, for how long he envisages developing two separate universal credit IT systems; and if he will make a statement. [178978]
Esther McVey: The Government has announced its plans for the next stage of universal credit implementation. The live service will expand in scope and scale during 2014, supported by the existing IT systems; at the same time we will continue to work to develop and test an enhanced system. We will make decisions on later stages of implementation informed by the development of this enhanced system.' Hansard