Recommendation 65

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