Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 106
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)
A work allowance is the amount that a claimant can earn before their Universal Credit payment is affected. Once a claimant starts work their Universal Credit amount will gradually decrease as the claimant earns more money through their job. The work allowance is currently set at: • £293–if a claimant’s Universal Credit award includes housing support; or 264 Scottish Government (WPS0013) 265 HC Deb, 3 March 2021, Col 252 [Commons Chamber] 266 Q193 267 Q193 268 Q193 269 Q193 270 Oral evidence taken before the Work and Pensions Committee on 2 February 2021, HC (2019–21) 178, Q381 271 Oral evidence taken before the Work and Pensions Committee on 2 February 2021, HC (2019–21) 178, Q381 272 Oral evidence taken before the Work and Pensions Committee on 2 February 2021, HC (2019–21) 178, Q385 273 Q64 & Q101 42 Welfare policy in Scotland • £515–if the claimant does not receive housing support.274
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".