Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 6
First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak
Published 22 Jun 2020
Paragraph 47
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Making a new Universal Credit claim has worked well for huge numbers of people since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. But it has been detrimental for some people moving from legacy benefits, who have inadvertently left themselves worse off as a result—and, in some cases, with no support from the benefits system at all. Encouraged by Government guidance, they made claims for Universal Credit in good faith, only to find themselves trapped in a bureaucratic lobster pot, unable to return to their pre-existing benefits. Worse still, they are also stripped of any entitlement they might have had to transitional protection if they had moved to Universal Credit in future.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak (HC 178), paragraph 47, 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".