Will we, in a few years’ time, be considering how and why this turned into a calamity costing us all billions of pounds? Recent reports are hardly auspicious. A leaked staff survey carried out at the Department for Work and Pensions suggested that officials working on the scheme are scathing of its chances of success. One said: “After 29 years of service this has been the most soul-destroying work I have done.” Another: “We are in the third review in 16 months, no roll-out plans, no confidence in going forward and stakeholders losing confidence in our ability to deliver.” Secrecy is another tell-tale indicator that something is going wrong. Rumours abound of computer failures and waste on a vast scale, but so little information is coming out that it is hard to know what is going on, though Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, has signalled a complete rethink – and this, let us remember, is the Coalition’s flagship welfare reform project.