Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 4
First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak
Published 22 Jun 2020
Paragraph 33
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The baked-in wait for a first payment in Universal Credit means that some claimants take out an Advance in order to make ends meet, which must then be paid back within 12 months. These repayments are creating additional hardship at a time when many households are already struggling to get by. We commend DWP’s decision to suspend repayments of other debts, which recognises that these repayments were causing undue hardship. But this will not offer much comfort to the thousands of Universal Credit claimants who are still facing substantial deductions every month to repay Advances. We recommend that DWP assesses and reports on the impact of its temporary suspension of some debt repayments, including the total value of deductions that have been suspended and the impact on households who have been affected by this decision.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak (HC 178), paragraph 33, 22 June 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 8 September 2020.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out DWP's actions on the Committee's recommendations, committing to some further work on health assessments, terminal illness guidance and publishing evidence on the self-employed, while giving reasons for not changing other policies.
- On legacy benefits, DWP has "no plans to increase these benefits further at this stage", and says rates will be reviewed in the autumn up-rating exercise for April 2021.
- On audio recording of assessments, the government says it is "currently developing an approach" for telephone PIP assessments and Work Capability Assessments, without stating a date.
- On health and safety inspections, it says a "new rigid numerical target system would hamper the effectiveness and flexibility of operations" and that HSE uses a risk based, intelligence led approach.
- On the Employment Bill, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy "will bring forward detailed proposals on legislation in due course"; DWP "will look to publish evidence on the self-employed".