Recommendation 90

We have heard about support programmes designed for claimants who don’t have the confidence, or the skills required to make an application for and maintain their Universal Credit claim provided by local organisations who have stepped in to deliver what they feel is essential support not being provided by the UK Government. Councillor Bell of Glasgow City Council said that the current support to claimants from DWP ‘does not offer some of the key elements that we feel were very important [ … ] particularly around IT skills that we believe are very necessary for people to maintain their online claims.’222 He went on to highlight that Glasgow City Council have seen an increase in demand from citizens for their financial inclusion services. We were told Glasgow City Council ‘invests over £2 million a year on citywide financial inclusion services’223 which is used to fund translation services and offers a range of ‘ongoing support and advice’224 to claimants in Glasgow. Suzanne Lavelle from Southside Housing Association also told us about a £500,000 grant they received from the Big Lottery ‘for a five year project to assist with the increased need from our tenants and the local community for Welfare Benefit and Money Advice during the transition to Universal Credit.’225 In their evidence to us the Scottish Government also outlined a ‘£250,000 multimedia platform and an income-maximisation marketing campaign’226 designed to bolster support for low-income families to access both devolved and reserved benefits. Help to Claim