Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 109
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)
DWP was keen to highlight its approach to tackling poverty in Scotland and around the UK. It argues that the welfare reforms carried out since 2010 have brought a ‘holistic approach to supporting individuals and households’283 with their ‘fundamental principle of being better off working than not, unless you cannot work’284 being the driving force of removing the old legacy benefits system which it thought ‘dis-incentivised progression in and extension of work.’285 The Department argue that as a result of the welfare reforms since 2010, including the roll out of Universal Credit, absolute poverty in Scotland had fallen ‘from 17% in the three years leading up to 2009/10 to 14% in the three years up to 2018/19.’286 It also outlines plans to ‘level up’ across the country and will continue to tackle 274 Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit work allowances, April 2021 275 Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit work allowances, April 2021 276 Citizens Advice Scotland (WPS0014) 277 Explanatory memorandum to the Universal Credit (Work Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2015 278 Citizens Advice Scotland (WPS0014) 279 Q52 280 Q101 281 Q101 282 Citizens Advice Scotland (WPS0014) 283 Department for Work and Pensions (WPS0021) 284 Department for Work and Pensions (WPS0021) 285 Department for Work and Pensions (WPS0021) 286 Department for Work and Pensions (WPS0021) Welfare policy in Scotland 43 poverty through its ‘new schemes such as Kickstart and Job Entry Targeted Support’287 as well as ‘doubling the number of work coaches who [ … ] will provide more people with the tailored support they need to move into or back into work and towards financial independence.’288
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".