Recommendation 83

The Minister for Welfare Delivery highlighted that he felt the Universal Credit digital application system ‘stood up to the challenge’207 that the pandemic presented and that the previous legacy benefits system, which more heavily relied on paper-based administration, separate benefits and application processes, and need for in-person applications ‘would have fallen over’208 under the pressure exerted on the welfare system by the pandemic. He went on to explain that the system working as it had done and with the efforts of DWP staff payment timeliness for Universal Credit in Scotland ‘remains over 90%’.209 Universal Credit – digital by default system