Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 29
Third Report: Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment
Published 19 Oct 2020
Paragraph 131
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Help to Claim is a hugely valuable service for people who are applying for Universal Credit. But its focus is on helping people to complete their initial claim. It does not provide support for people throughout their claim, to help them to manage debt, personal budgeting, and maintaining their claim through their online journal. In that respect, Help to Claim is still a long way from providing the support originally envisaged as integral to the successful rollout of Universal Credit. We cannot agree with the assertion made by Neil Couling, Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit, that the Department is currently providing a “de facto Universal Support”.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report: Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment (HC 204), paragraph 131, 19 October 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 January 2021 (deadline 19 December 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government notes the Committee's report and, in the sections summarised here, declines to adopt most of its main recommendations, saying that advances mean "No one has to wait five weeks for a payment".
- On research into the impact of the wait, the Department states that it "will not be conducting nor commissioning any research", saying resources were reallocated to the COVID-19 response.
- On a starter payment, the Government says there "is not a need for a starter payment in UC" because New Claim Advances are available, and cites increased fraud risk. It says it will "not be introducing" more frequent payments by default.
- On the deduction cap, it points to the lowering from 30% to 25% of the standard allowance, "effective from October 2021", and says further lowering "would not be an effective way to protect vulnerable claimants".
- It states that it "does not agree that monthly updates" on Work Coach recruitment are appropriate, but will ensure "relevant updates" are supplied to Parliament. It also reports a commitment to increase Work Coaches by 13,500 by end of March 2021.