Recommendation 81

We realise the huge amount of work done by DWP employees during the difficult time since the covid-19 pandemic started and pay tribute to their hard work. We understand that many DWP employees were ‘redeployed at very short notice’200 to the Universal Credit processing teams to help with the number of new claims that were being made through the on-line application process for Universal Credit. 76,000 claims were made for Universal Credit in Scotland in April 2020 alone.201 In Scotland the number of people claiming Universal Credit has doubled with 490,000 people now receiving Universal Credit (as of March 2021) as compared to 260,000 people receiving the benefit back in February 2020.202 The Minister for Welfare Delivery, Will Quince MP, highlighted in his evidence how employees at DWP had ‘strained every sinew’203 over the past year to help with claims processing and that this effort by the Department had been ‘unprecedented’.204