Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 122
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)
We welcome the improvements made to the advance payment system, such as the doubling of the amount of time to repay, and a reduction in the rate at which deductions can be made. We also acknowledge the advance system is in place for people who require money quickly, however, the weight of evidence received suggests that this policy poses 302 Department for Work and Pensions, Universal Credit: Get an advance on your first payment, accessed 14 April 2021 303 Q76 304 Q76 305 The Trussell Trust (WPS0006) 306 Money Advice Moray (WPS0002) 307 Citizens Advice Scotland (WPS0014) 308 Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report of Session 2019–21, Universal Credit: The wait for first payment, HC 204, Para 68 309 Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report of Session 2019–21, Universal Credit: The wait for first payment, HC 204, Para 68 310 Work and Pensions Committee, Third Special Report of Session 2019–21, Universal Credit: The wait for a first payment: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report, HC1117, Page 4 46 Welfare policy in Scotland more problems than it solves in terms of people addressing poverty in Scotland with claimants having to pay back their advance payment in monthly instalments meaning their Universal Credit payment is less, making paying for essentials much harder.
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".