Recommendation 26

The effectiveness of DWP policies that are supposed to protect claimants from harm is in large part contingent on Work Coaches applying discretion correctly and consistently. Discretion can be a valuable tool in the benefit system, but we are concerned that overreliance on discretion is placing an unreasonable burden on time-poor Work Coaches and increasing the risk of safeguarding policies and procedures not being followed properly. Furthermore, we are mindful that for discretion to be applied effectively, frontline staff must feel confident in applying safeguarding measures. Our survey results suggested that a sizeable minority of DWP staff do not feel they received adequate safeguarding training to enable them to deal with safeguarding issues. (Conclusion, Paragraph 111)