Ministers are to set out options for reforming the benefits system and moving people from welfare into work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith told Evan Davis he was "absolutely committed" to a system which simplified the benefit system, but there were four or five options on the table - from a universal credit, where all benefits are amalgamated and taper off at a set level, to various modifications of this.

"I'm not denying that we would have to invest some money into this," he acknowledged, but argued that the simplification of the system would also "save dramatic amounts of money".

Mr Duncan Smith said that he had been warned by civil servants that the current system was "close to breaking" arguing that a simple taper to benefits, which meant you never lost money by working would have "a dynamic effect on people's attitudes to work".

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