Welfare hiatus tocost £87m in 14/15

The Department of Finance claims the cost of not implementing Welfare Reform here will rise from £13m in 2013/14 to £87m in 2014/15.

According to a document released under the Freedom of Information Act the cost will multiply to £114m in 2015/16, to £193.2m in 2016/7, to £276m in 2017/18, to £343m in 2018/9.

The overall cost, according to the Department, will be over £1bn over the six years.