Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Deferred
Paragraph: 44
Confirm plans for implementing partial child maintenance deductions in Universal Credit and their priority.
Recommendation
Competing priorities for the Universal Credit system, specifically work on fraud and error and the automation of processes to allow the expansion of the move to Universal Credit, mean the Department has not undertaken work to implement capability in the system to process partial deductions for child maintenance in the Universal Credit system. The Government should confirm that it plans to implement partial deductions for child maintenance, where this ranks in priority for work on the system and when this work is expected to be reached.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges that legislative changes would be needed for partial deductions but states there are no estimated timescales due to current Universal Credit system work focusing on fraud, error, and migration.
Paragraph Reference:
44
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
Modifications regarding partial deductions would require changes to the UC system, which is challenging, given the need to safeguard the incomes of vulnerable customers, during the process of migration of customers onto UC from legacy benefits. We will ensure the legislation is amended as necessary when the change can be implemented. UC Delivery teams are currently working at full capacity on Fraud and Error improvements, and development is ongoing to automate more processes to allow expansion of move to UC. The build effort required for this change will continue to be considered at regular intervals to see when it can be accommodated but there are no estimated timescales currently. We will continue to work with our UC colleagues to consider the best ways to improve the operation of child maintenance payments within UC to maximise the amount of child maintenance paid.