Iain Duncan Smith says Universal Credit 'on budget' despite millions wasted Mr Duncan Smith has constantly denied that the reform would miss its timetable. Speaking to BBC Radio 4"s Today programme, Mr Duncan Smith remained defiant and repeatedly said that the scheme is "on budget." "I do accept, of course, that this plan is different from the original plan," Mr Duncan Smith said. Labour has said that official figures showed that only a tiny fraction of the numbers due to be using the new system by the time of the next general election would be transferred on time. Only a "handful" of the promised 1.7 million would be switched by 2014/15 and only 400,000 by the following year - less than 10 per cent of the original target, the Opposition said. Universal Credit, regarded as Mr Duncan Smith's personal political mission, will merge several benefits into a single payment that will be adjusted to ensure that claimants are always better off in work than on welfare. Whitehall watchdogs, IT experts and MPs have all warned that the programme is being badly run and would miss its deadline for nationwide use by October 2017 The National Audit Office earlier this year found that £34 million spent on computer systems and services for the project has been written off because it delivered no value for taxpayers. And the Major Projects Authority, a Government troubleshooter, in September suggested that another £200 million of IT spending could be worthless. Asked whether Universal Credit will still be delivered "on time and on budget," Mr Duncan Smith said: "Yes, the plan that we've put together, which we actually put out at the end of last week demonstrated really that in essence by the end of 2017 the vast, vast majority of people will be on it. There's one group we won't have taken in to Universal Credit, which is those who are on ESA support [Employment and Support Allowance]...it's about 700,000 people. The reason for that [is] we could easily have tried to rush those people in but we decided not to. Mr Duncan Smith added: "It's on budget. It's on budget. Some 6.5million people will be on the system by the end of 2017. The Work and Pensions Secretary admitted that the Universal Credit scheme has changed in recent years. "I introduced a red team of outside experts to come in to look at the plan back at the end of 2011 for the very simple reason that I was concerned that we may end up repeating the same mistakes that were the last government's over the rollout of tax credits and the health department which lost billions and billions," Mr Duncan Smith said. And we're not going to do that because the plan now has been re-set. Rachel Reeves, the shadow and pensions secretary, said: "David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith repeatedly promised to deliver their flagship policy 'on time and within budget." That claim, and the credibility they staked on it, now lie in tatters. She added: "David Cameron and Iain Duncan Smith are presiding over a complete mess and it is taxpayers who are picking up the bill with at least one hundred million pounds of their money written off."