Source · Select Committees · Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 30
30
It is disappointing that the Government has decided not to progress with plans for reforming...
Recommendation
It is disappointing that the Government has decided not to progress with plans for reforming Statutory Sick Pay (SSP). The Government acknowledges that there is clear support for SSP reform. The pandemic has highlighted some of the key weaknesses in the SSP system: notably, SSP is not available to two million of the lowest paid workers, and people in precarious forms of work may be excluded from support. The Government has taken steps to support low paid workers affected by coronavirus— but these payments will be phased out, and they do not negate the need for long term reform of the SSP system, which the Government clearly recognised at the outset of the consultation in 2019. We recommend that in response to this report the Department set out in greater detail its plans for reforming SSP in future, including expected timescales. (Paragraph 125) Impact of the coronavirus pandemic
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Committee’s 2018 report on benefit sanctions recommended that certain groups of claimants in the Health Journey be exempt from conditionality and sanctions. In the Government’s response, the Department committed to explore a Proof of Concept (PoC) for a voluntary-first approach. This voluntary first approach (now known as Tailoring Up) is designed to better engage claimants on the Universal Credit Health Journey, or those claiming Employment and Support Allowance. Mandatory activities can still be applied if the work coach considers that this is necessary to appropriately support the claimant into or towards employment. This approach was developed following a PoC run in 29 Jobcentre Plus sites from September 2019 to February 2020. Small scale qualitative feedback from staff was positive and indicated that this approach increased their ability to build rapport and trust with claimants; increased claimant engagement and delivered improved quality of tailoring and personalisation. Claimant views were not evaluated due to lockdown. Implementation of this new approach was rolled out nationally in January 2021, alongside the reintroduction of employment support for this group of claimants. Assurance activity will continue whilst the approach is bedding in. Early signs indicated claimants were receiving regular interventions using the resourced time in a more flexible way, which was more aligned to the policy intent. As with all our policies, the Department will continue to monitor and review the effectiveness of the tailoring up approach. There are already conditionality exemptions for those with the most severe health conditions; and all claimants have their commitments tailored based on their personal situation. There is no evidence or analysis on the impact of sanctions on disabled people. 26 Disability employment gap: Government response The Department also committed in the Government response to look at processes to give claimants a written warning, instead of a sanction, for a first sanctionable failure to attend a Work-Search Review. Before assessing the merits of extending such a system, we are under-taking a series of small-scale proof of concepts of this warning system. However, we have had to pause this work in order to prioritise support for an increased number of claimants owing to the pandemic. We are aiming to restart this activity in due course. What has DWP done to engage claimants in provision and conditionality The Green Paper proposed ways to improve the design of the benefits system and posed illustrative ideas to generate discussion. During the consultation we heard from disabled people and their representatives about the approaches to consider to improve the system. We are now analysing the responses and detailed proposals will be brought forward in a White Paper in mid-2022, setting out how we can better enable people to live more independently and take up work where possible. SSAC’s proposal