The pilots for the new system are due to start in Manchester and Cheshire next month. The planned size of the pilot is very limited – about 1500 claims a month for six months, to test a scheme that is due in short order to cover eight and a half million people. Now Computerworld UK reports that the calculations during the pilots will be done using spreadsheets. “The only part of the final £500 million system that will be used will be to book appointments at job centres, with some personal details stored and used again.” For a system which has been criticised as having “too many moving parts in too many places”, it seems the government has found an answer, which is not to use any moving parts at all.