Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 13
First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak
Published 22 Jun 2020
Paragraph 81
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)
We appreciate that, in normal times, applying visa conditions which require people to support themselves financially without being a burden on the state may be a reasonable policy approach. But during a pandemic it cannot be in the public interest to expect people, some of whom are key workers and front-line medical staff, to comply fully with restrictive public health guidance while simultaneously denying them full access to the welfare safety net. Ministers have been telling us for months that they are working on this issue. The Prime Minister himself has promised to see what can be done. But people need support now. In these exceptional circumstances, the Government should immediately suspend NRPF conditions on public health grounds for the duration of the outbreak. Following the various ministerial commitments in the House, the Government should also set out exactly what measures it has taken so far to support people with NRPF, and include details of any ministerial implementation groups or other fora that have been set up to consider this issue.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, First Report: DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak (HC 178), paragraph 81, 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".