Recommendations & Conclusions
4 items
6
Conclusion
Sixth Report - Children in poverty: Chi…
Rejected
The Department’s own assessment to the NAO “that around 50% of fraud referrals to its Financial Investigations Unit are unfounded” indicates that the system is not functioning as it should be, and, as we will return to later, demonstrates how conflict is encouraged. The Department currently requires evidence for referrals …
Government response. The government disagreed with the committee's assessment that the Financial Investigation Unit referral system is not functioning correctly. While it continues to enhance its fraud strategy and noted a high percentage of investigations result in assessment changes, it only committed …
Department for Work and Pensions
10
Recommendation
Sixth Report - Children in poverty: Chi…
Rejected
Child maintenance currently ranks low on the priority list for Universal Credit deductions at twelfth, below deductions for DWP debt, such as advance payments. We disagree that pursuing such debt should hold a higher priority than child maintenance. Deductions for child maintenance should take higher priority than deductions for the …
Government response. The government rejected the recommendation to reprioritise child maintenance deductions above government debt. It stated that child maintenance is already considered before other government debts like benefit overpayments and there are no current plans to alter the existing deduction priority …
Department for Work and Pensions
21
Conclusion
Sixth Report - Children in poverty: Chi…
Rejected
Presently it is not possible for child benefit to be split between parents, even in cases of equally shared care. The Department should work with HMRC to enable parents with shared care to split child benefit between them.
Government response. The government rejected the recommendation to enable splitting child benefit between parents with shared care. It argued that existing measures provide appropriate support and that splitting payments would introduce additional operational burdens, complexity for claimants, and costs for the Exchequer.
Department for Work and Pensions
24
Recommendation
Sixth Report - Children in poverty: Chi…
Rejected
We have heard evidence that was strongly critical of the effectiveness of Collect and Pay fees. Such fees are particularly pernicious for parents on low incomes and we recommend that the Government should introduce a system for the means-testing of Collect and Pay fees.
Government response. The government rejects means-testing Collect and Pay fees, stating that charges are the right approach to encourage parents to use direct pay arrangements. It believes means-testing could create perverse incentives and add complexity to the system.
Department for Work and Pensions