Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 65
65
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Policy in Practice submitted written evidence outlining how there are practical issues for claimants to...
Conclusion
Policy in Practice submitted written evidence outlining how there are practical issues for claimants to address in accessing job centres and their services in the more rural areas of Scotland. In their research, Policy in Practice found that uptake of benefits in rural areas decreases by up to 7% in some cases when compared with urban areas.158 They suggested that this issue would be important to consider when thinking about how 149 Q74 150 Q111 151 Q73 152 Q60 153 Q92 154 Q37 155 Q145 156 Q49 157 Q49 158 Policy in Practice (WPS0010) 30 Welfare policy in Scotland to support low-income households in rural areas in Scotland.159 In its evidence the UK Government highlighted that they were trying to address the issue of offering benefit services to people who lived in rural areas. They highlighted their pilot trial in Inverness, Dingwall and Invergordon of using video calls as a way of supporting people during the pandemic when people have not been able to travel.160 We were told by the Minister for Welfare Delivery that the pilot had been so successful that he believes this innovation ‘has potential to be rolled out across the United Kingdom.’161 Margarita Morrison, Area Director, Work and Health Services Scotland at the DWP explained that they knew there ‘will always be customers that will need to come in and see us’162 but this video call service allows those with the right skills and who know what they ‘wanted to do and, therefore, were able to do that over video.’163
Government response summary AI-generated
The government established an Operational Reference Group with Social Security Scotland to review service delivery issues and consider improvements to the benefits experience, including accessibility challenges.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
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HM Government · verbatim extract
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The Department considers the existing resource to be sufficient. There is already assistance available to help claimants to make and maintain their Universal Credit claim using the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. Throughout the pandemic, Jobcentres have remained open for anyone who needed face- to-face support and could not be helped in any other way. Jobcentres in Scotland resumed full face to face services, returning to normal opening hours from 9am to 5pm, on 26 April 2021. All Jobcentre Plus offices have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. Work Coaches will continue to support those who need it to maintain their Universal Credit claim. To support DWP’s ongoing commitment in helping claimants, it has recruited an additional 1,152 Work Coaches in its Jobcentres in Scotland. DWP agreed to fund Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver Help to Claim for another year (up to 31 March 2022) to provide support to people to make a new claim to Universal Credit. If Citizens Advice Scotland Advisers identify that a Help to Claim client cannot make their Universal Credit claim on-line, then they will support the claimant to make a claim by phone. Through Help to Claim, DWP has also funded Citizens Advice Scotland to provide Public Access Terminals to enable people who don’t have access to a device to go on-line to claim Universal Credit.
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