Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 84
Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland
Published 23 Jun 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Welfare policy in Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Unlike previous benefit systems Universal Credit is designed to be a digital by default system, meaning that digital mechanisms are the DWP’s primary approach for the application and processing of Universal Credit. This process has reformed benefit administration; online applications and regional Service Centres have replaced in-person 200 Q182 201 Q204 202 Scottish Government, Universal Credit Scotland Bulletin – April 2021, accessed 13 May 2021 203 Q182 204 Q182 205 Q66 206 Q118 207 Q182 208 Q182 209 Q204 Welfare policy in Scotland 35 ‘signing-on’ processes in local job centres. People who want to claim do so by creating an online account (usually from their own devices such as laptops and mobile phones) and from there fill out an online application form and carry out other tasks such as: • keeping a record of the things they’ve done to prepare or look for work • have conversations with their work coach • report a change of circumstances • record childcare costs • provide details about a health condition or disability • see how much their Universal Credit payments are • check what they have agreed to do in their Claimant Commitment210
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, Second Report - Welfare policy in Scotland (HC 55), 23 June 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 November 2021 (deadline 23 August 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The UK Government "notes the Committee's recommendations" and responds to each in turn, accepting little of the report's welfare-policy proposals and referring several to the Scottish Government.
- On the £20 uplift and legacy benefits, it states "There was never any plan to extend the uplift to legacy benefits."
- On work allowances, it states it "has no plans to extend the work allowance to single adults".
- On Help to Claim funding, it "considers the existing resource to be sufficient", and says DWP agreed to fund Citizens Advice Scotland for another year, "up to 31 March 2022".
- On data sharing and Recommendations 2, 7 and 8, it says each data request "must be examined" by DWP as Data Controller, and treats several recommendations as "for the Scottish Government".