Recommendation 50

Faster Payments offer the Department a quick and efficient way to pay claimants. They could, if more widely used, reduce the time that people have to wait for a first payment. The Department already has plans to increase its use of Faster Payments. That will have costs and will require work across multiple bodies, including the Treasury and the banks. We recommend that the Department maintain its target to increase its proportion of Payments permitted by banks, to shorten the fifth week of the Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment 87 Universal Credit process. We urge the Department to set out in more detail its proposed strategy for rolling out Faster Payments, including its expected timings and its plans for engagement with the banking sector, in response to this report. (Paragraph 208) Improving the assessment system