Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 46
Third Report: Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment
Published 19 Oct 2020
Paragraph 197
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that the Department publishes the guidance given to Work Coaches when they advise people on APAs, to improve transparency in the process. The Department should make clear when and how a claimant is made aware of APAs both during their Universal Credit application and once they start receiving their payments. The Department should publish the rates at which people are unsuccessful in their applications for an Alternative Payment Arrangements, and what reasons the Department might give a claimant if it denies their request for more frequent payments. DWP should also ensure that work coaches are making claimants aware of the option of split payments, where a household’s payment can be divided and paid into two separate accounts.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Third Report: Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment (HC 204), paragraph 197, 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.