At the Work and Pensions Committee, DWP permanent secretary Dame Sarah Healey said the department is quite often working on extremely old computer systems. Neil Couling said the Carer's Allowance system is incapable of adaptation to produce the taper announced at the Budget, so the change will not take effect until 2030-31. DWP is in the fourth year of an 11-year, £312m Service Modernisation Programme, and Healey said attempting to change such systems quickly tends not to be successful.
