Select committee inquiry
Progress in implementing Universal Credit
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“There are currently around six million people receiving Universal Credit (UC) benefit payments, launched in 2010 to replace six-means-tested benefits for working-age households. At the end of 2022, some 2.5m households remained on legacy benefits, with the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) starting to scale up moving people onto UC through its ‘managed migration’ process. In 2018, the Committee concluded that UC’s introduction was causing unacceptable hardship and difficulties for many of the claimants it was designed to help. The Committee further found that the DWP had dismissed evidence of this, and expressed concern about whether DWP would be able to implement ‘managed migration’ of people to UC without causing further hardship. DWP aims to complete migrating around one million claimants to UC by March 2025. The Government announced in 2022 that it would defer transferring those on income-related Employment and Support Allowance to UC until 2028, saying the delay would save approximately £1bn in benefit payments. Based on the National Audit Office (NAO) report on progress in implementing UC, the Committee will take evidence from senior DWP officials on subjects including: Plans to undertake ‘managed migration’ effectively’; Support for vulnerable claimants; Timelines and plans for moving all claimants to UC; Implementation costs. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 23:59 on Friday 1 March 2024. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Please note that the Committee is unable to investigate individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to contact your constituency MP. This inquiry was closed due to the 2024 General Election.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
In the committee's words, from the summary of Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in implementing Universal Credit ↗
The Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) makes bold claims about the benefits that Universal Credit is generating and we recognise that its evaluations show that Universal Credit has a positive impact on employment in the short term. We remain sceptical, however, that this evidence supports the Department’s claims that Universal Credit is realising the scale of economic benefits, over £6 billion, that it projected in its latest business case.
The Department also intended that Universal Credit would generate significant benefits by reducing fraud and error, but cannot measure impact in this area. This Committee has been examining Universal Credit for more than a decade, tracking its implementation and impact. During that time we have regularly highlighted increasing levels of fraud and error and made recommendations for improvement. However, rather than providing us with assurance about the actions it is taking, the Department fell back again on its explanation of a societal increase in the propensity to commit fraud.
We are not convinced why this must inevitably lead to growing losses to the taxpayer.
We encourage our successor Committee to keep a close eye on this issue and to continue to hold the Department to account for its progress.
The Department is in the process of moving 900,000 claimants of legacy benefits to Universal Credit, having started with claimants of HM Revenue & Customs’ Tax Credits. It says it is not concerned that so far 21% of claimants have not transferred to Universal Credit when invited to do so but it has limited assurance that people are not, as a result, missing out on benefits they are entitled to. It should not conclude that all is well simply because it received only 20 complaints about the migration process from April to December 2023. The Department now has the more challenging task of moving claimants of its own legacy benefits, some of whom are likely to be vulnerable. Although the Department expects only around 4% of these claimants will not switch to Universal Credit, we would be very concerned if large numbers of these people did not transfer and were to lose their benefits. It is vital that the Department helps these claimants to make the switch, including offering face-to-face support and making sure people fully understand the process, including the arrangements for transitional protection.
The Department is not scheduled to complete full implementation of Universal Credit until 2028 at the earliest following the Government’s decision to delay the move of income-related Employment and Support Allowance claimants to Universal Credit to make savings in benefit payments. Because of this delay, some people will receive less benefit income in the coming years than they otherwise would have. The Department must capture the learning from its current programme about how to move vulnerable claimants effectively and safely to Universal Credit so it is well placed to undertake this activity in four years’ time.
What the government said
The government responded on 11 July 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response.
The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on non-claim rates, in-house support, Help to Claim and lessons for Employment and Support Allowance migration, but disagrees with those on economic benefit claims, tracking claimant outcomes and transitional protection guidance.
- On economic benefit claims, the government disagrees, stating that the business case followed Green Book guidance and the department "does not agree there is a need for further work".
- On tracking claimant outcomes, it disagrees, saying a longitudinal study "would monitor outcomes but not isolate the impact of Universal Credit".
- On non-claim rates, it agrees and says it will publish the results of the Tax Credit non-claim survey "by the end of the year", with further analysis if rates are higher than expected.
- It agrees on updated evaluation guidance and says it "will publish an update to the Magenta Book in 2025".
Read the government's response ↗ Read the report ↗ Report an error
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 10 January 2024 to 11 July 2025.
- Oral evidence 11 Mar 2024
- Report 26 Apr 2024
- Government response 11 Jul 2025
- Correspondence 3 letters
What it recommended 5 recommendations · 31 conclusions
2Regularly track and publish Universal Credit claimant outcomes including employment, earnings, and hours.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department’s evaluations show that Universal Credit is having a positive impact on the labour market, but these have assessed only the short-term impact on claimants. The Department’s studies have evaluated the short-term impact for individuals who made a claim for Universal Credit in 2018 or earlier. The findings include that single people are two percentage points more likely to have been in employment at any point in the six months after starting their Universal Credit claim than new Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants; and single parents are five percentage points more likely to have been in work within six months of making a new Universal Credit claim compared with being on legacy benefits. The Department says that any diminishing impact for individuals beyond the six-month period is offset by more people being in work in subsequent cohorts of claimants, and it is therefore confident that Universal Credit is having a sustained and long-term impact on the labour market. We note, however, the Department does not know whether individual claimants remained in employment beyond the period covered by the evaluations and does not know anything about the nature of the jobs they took. 6 Progress in implementing Universal Credit Recommendation 2: The Department should regularly track the outcomes of Universal Credit claimants, which could involve a longitudinal study, including what kinds of employment they take up and for how long, as well as their earnings and hours, and publish the results at regular intervals of at least once every twelve months.
3Publish Universal Credit non-claim rates and survey results of non-transferring legacy benefit claimants.
Recommended (the committee's words)
Many vulnerable people risk falling into financial hardship if the proportion of legacy benefit claimants not switching to Universal Credit remains at its current level. Around one in five households on Tax Credits who received a migration notice have not moved to Universal Credit and so have had their benefit stopped. The median value of Tax Credits received by people who did not claim Universal Credit was £3,200 a year. The Department has a limited understanding of why some people do not switch to Universal Credit, but says it is reassured by having received only 20 complaints about the migration process from April to December 2023. But this does not provide sufficient assurance that people are not falling into hardship. The Department is now planning a survey of people who have not claimed UC, having before not been routinely in contact with people to ask why they are not claiming. Organisations who work with benefit claimants are also concerned about the proportion of legacy benefit claimants not transferring to Universal Credit and the financial impact it may have on them. The Department expects the non-claim rate for households claiming its legacy benefits, who are being migrated from April 2024, will be much lower at around 4%. However, even a small proportion of people not transferring to Universal Credit could translate into a substantial number of people facing financial hardship. Recommendation 3: The Department should publish by the end of August 2024 the Universal Credit non-claim rates by type of legacy benefit, and set out the action it is taking in the event that the non-claim rates are higher than expected. Before the end of the year, the Department should also publish the results of the survey of those Tax Credit claimants who did not apply for Universal Credit alongside a statement of what lessons it would learn.
4Set out how to monitor adequacy and effectiveness of in-house Universal Credit migration support.
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department’s in-house support for claimants moving to Universal Credit has so far been limited, particularly face-to-face provision, and will need to improve as more vulnerable claimants move from its legacy benefits. The Department’s practical support for Tax Credit claimants moving to Universal Credit has mainly been through its telephone helpline, which received more than 30,000 calls between May and September 2023. The Department also provides face-to-face support at jobcentres and through home visits, although it had conducted just 23 home visits over the same time period. Organisations who work with benefit claimants are concerned about whether enough support is available and about how effective the support is. Ahead of moving claimants of its legacy benefits to Universal Credit from April 2024, the Department has been working to develop an enhanced support package aimed at making sure more vulnerable people claim the benefits they are entitled to. This will include expanding the number of home visits. The Department is recruiting more visiting officers and aims to have 33 supporting the migration programme by June 2024 and 56 by December 2024. It also plans to contact claimants who do not apply for Universal Credit before any decision is made to stop their legacy benefits. Progress in implementing Universal Credit 7 Recommendation 4: The Department should set out what it will do to monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of the in-house support it provides to claimants moving to Universal Credit, particularly whether it has sufficient capacity to meet the need for face-to-face support.
5Explain plans to review Help to Claim service and address unmet demand from vulnerable claimants.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department is reducing its grant funding for the external Help to Claim service at the same time as more claimants will need advice and support to move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. The ‘Help to Claim’ service, provided through grant funding agreements between the Department and Citizens Advice, has been a source of independent support and advice to people making a Universal Credit claim since 2019. The Department expects more people will use the Help to Claim service in the next two years (191,000 claimants in 2024–25 and 161,000 claimants in 2025–26) than will have used it in the current year (131,000 claimants in 2023–24). Despite this, it has been reducing its funding for the Help to Claim service – from £38 million in 2019–20 to £22 million in 2023–24 and £19 million per year on average over the next two years. Initially, the service provided online, telephone and face-to-face support, but since 2022 the service has not been funded to offer face-to-face support. Organisations who work with benefit claimants are concerned about the reduction in the Help to Claim service and about the fact that it no longer includes face-to-face support. Recommendation 5: The Department should explain how it will keep under review the operation of the Help to Claim service and the actions it will take should the service be unable to meet demand, in particular of vulnerable claimants.
6Explain better how transitional protection is calculated in guidance and migration notices.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department has not explained clearly how transitional protection works so benefit claimants, and the organisations that advise them, do not fully understand how amounts are calculated. The Department provides ‘transitional protection’ designed to ensure people are not worse off on Universal Credit at the point of moving. It tops up a claimant’s Universal Credit entitlement where it is lower than the legacy benefit being replaced. However, organisations who work with benefit claimants are concerned about transitional protection, in particular about how the Department calculates amounts that are due, how accurate its calculations are, and the risk that people are receiving incorrect payments which they cannot check themselves. The Department acknowledges that transitional protection is complex and difficult to explain. It has produced a guide for stakeholders and wants to turn that into something that is more understandable for people who are not welfare advice experts. Recommendation 6: The Department should explain better in its guidance and the migration notices it sends to claimants how transitional protection is calculated, using simple language and examples based on real cases.
7Explain how lessons from current migration programme will prepare for ESA claimant move.
Concluded (the committee's words)
With the move of Employment and Support Allowance claimants to Universal Credit now deferred to 2028, it will be vital for the Department to capture and act upon the learning from its current programme about how to migrate vulnerable claimants effectively. The Government announced, in the 2022 Autumn Statement, that it was delaying the move of income-related Employment and Support Allowance claimants to Universal Credit until 2028 to save £1 billion in benefit payments. Employment and Support Allowance claimants include some of the more vulnerable 8 Progress in implementing Universal Credit claimants due to move to Universal Credit. The Department has estimated that 51% of these claimants would be better off on Universal Credit by around £130 a month on average. Claimants can switch voluntarily before 2028 but will not receive transitional protection if it turns out they are worse off on Universal Credit. The Department highlights that claimants can access three benefit calculators, available through the gov.uk website, to get an estimate of their entitlement under Universal Credit. The decision to delay the move of Employment and Support Allowance claimants means that the transfer of all legacy benefit claimants to Universal Credit will not be completed until 2028, although the current migration programme is due to finish in 2025. The Department expects it will need to move around 600,000 claimants in 2028 but has not yet developed a plan for this. Recommendation 7: The Department should, in preparation for moving income- related Employment and Support Allowance claimants to Universal Credit, explain how it is capturing the lessons from its current migration programme so that it is ready for their migration in 2028. Progress in implementing Universal Credit 9 1 Progress in achieving the benefits of Universal Credit
1Committee took evidence on Department for Work and Pensions' Universal Credit implementation progress
Concluded (the committee's words)
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) on progress in implementing Universal Credit (UC).1
8Universal Credit demonstrates positive short-term labour market impact for claimants, DWP evaluations confirm
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department has some evidence to indicate that UC is having a positive impact on the labour market based on its evaluations of the short-term impact. Its first four evaluations covered single claimants without children – the most recent of these, based on data from 2018, found new UC claimants were two percentage points more likely to have been in employment at any point in the six months after starting their claim than new Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants. In February 2024, the Department completed a fifth 7 C&AG’s Report, paras 9, 1.6, 1.7 8 Qq 1, 33; C&AG’s Report, para 1.17 9 Committee of Public Accounts, Universal Credit, Sixty-Fourth Report of Session 2017–19, HC 1183, 26 October 2018 10 C&AG’s Report, Figure 1 11 Qq 1–2, 4; C&AG’s Report, para 1.14 and Figure 6 12 Qq 1, 5 13 Qq 1–3; C&AG’s Report, para 1.29, Figure 7 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 11 evaluation, also based on data from 2018, which found single parents were five percentage points more likely to have been in work within six months of making a new UC claim compared with being on legacy benefits.14
9DWP's labour market impact estimates rely on selected positive findings and assumptions
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked how the Department’s evaluations of whether UC is more likely to get people into work compared with legacy benefits enabled it to estimate how much people contributed to the economy.15 The Department said it was now difficult to compare the labour market impact of UC with legacy benefits, as it had closed legacy benefits to new claims so there was no counterfactual.16 It asserted that it could use the findings from its evaluation of the impact of UC on lone parents to derive the figure of 200,000 extra entrants to the labour market set out in the UC business case. Specifically, it said that there would be eight million people on UC when it was fully rolled out, maybe half of whom would be in work; applying the impact of five percentage points to four million people would produce a figure of 200,000.17 We note, however, that in making this argument the Department chose to use the most positive of its evaluation findings and made a number of other assumptions.
10DWP asserts UC outperforms Jobseeker’s Allowance despite inability to measure direct economic benefits
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department told us that it could not measure the economic benefits of extra people being in work as it could not create two versions of the economy – one with UC and one without. However, it said that its comparative evaluations had consistently shown that UC outperformed Jobseeker’s Allowance, which was itself, according to the OECD, one of the most efficient labour market regimes in the world. The Department also highlighted the increase in the lone parent employment rate, from around 45% in the mid-1990s to around 66% now, as evidence that the policy interventions of successive governments, including UC, were having the desired effect.18
11DWP evaluations assess Universal Credit's short-term labour market impact, not long-term individual effects
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department’s evaluations have considered only the short-term impact of UC on the labour market.19 We asked about the longer-term impact on claimants’ employment status, beyond the six months after they started their claims. The Department acknowledged that it had measured the effects of UC on individuals only in the short term, but argued that this did not mean that UC does not have a sustained and long-term impact on the labour market. It referred to a ‘cohorting effect’, whereby any decreasing impact for individuals over time is offset by more people in subsequent cohorts of claimants being in work.20
12DWP evaluations focus on employment likelihood, not job security or specific types of work
Concluded (the committee's words)
We also asked the Department about the types of jobs people took up after claiming UC and whether the jobs were secure. The Department told us that its evaluations showed only whether claimants were more likely to be in employment. It added that its first evaluation did consider the levels of earnings that people had, and that in principle it was possible to track the earnings and hours in work of claimants who were now in employment.21 14 C&AG’s Report, para 11 15 Q 33 16 Qq 1, 4; C&AG’s Report, para 1.20 17 Q 1 18 Q 4 19 C&AG’s Report, para 11 20 Q 6 21 Qq 34–35 12 Progress in implementing Universal Credit Reducing fraud and error
13DWP unable to assess Universal Credit's fraud and error impact against legacy benefits
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department’s objective is for UC to save around £1.3 billion every year when fully implemented, from reduced losses due to fraud and error. However, changes during and since the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the nature of UC cases and the Department’s easing of controls, have led the Department to conclude it can no longer produce a counterfactual to assess the impact of UC on fraud and error compared with legacy benefits.22
14Universal Credit overpayments remain significantly high at 12.8%, exceeding pre-pandemic levels
Concluded (the committee's words)
The proportion of UC overpaid was 12.8% (£5.5 billion) in 2022–23, down from 14.7% (£5.9 billion) in 2021–22 but still significantly above pre-pandemic levels.23 We have previously reported on the increasing levels of fraud and error and made recommendations to help the Department address the problem, including in our recent report on the Department’s 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts.24 We questioned whether, given the high levels of fraud and error compared with the past, UC really is less prone to fraud and error compared with the legacy benefit systems.25 The Department told us that the use of real-time information in the context of UC had enabled it to eliminate fraud and error from earned income, while fraud and error from self-employed income was about £1 billion in 2022–23. It also said that fraud from childcare had reduced to virtually zero under UC.26 As in previous evidence sessions, however, the Department also stressed that there has been a general increase in the underlying propensity for people to commit fraud, which regardless of the systems under consideration, was driving up levels of fraud and error.27 22 Q 13; C&AG’s Report, paras 1.21–1.22 23 C&AG’s Report, para 1.23 24 Committee of Public Accounts, The Department for Work & Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2022–23, Fourth Report of Session 2023–24, HC 290, 6 December 2023 25 Q 12 26 Qq 1, 13; C&AG’s Report, Report on Accounts: Department for Work & Pensions, July 2023, para 2.7 27 Qq 12, 38–39 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 13 2 Moving legacy benefit claimants to Universal Credit Proportion of people not moving to Universal Credit
15Twenty-one percent of Tax Credit households failed to migrate to Universal Credit
Concluded (the committee's words)
At December 2023, nearly all the migration notices that the Department had sent (99.5%) had gone to households in receipt of Tax Credits alone. Of the 148,700 cases closed, 31,500 households (21%) had not applied for UC and their legacy benefit had been stopped. The Department found during its testing that take-up for Tax Credit claimants was lower than for claimants of other legacy benefits, and, as a result, it expects the proportion of people not moving to UC to fall when it begins migrating claimants of the other benefits from April 2024.28
16Department initially underestimated Universal Credit non-claim rate for Tax Credit claimants.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department told us that, before the migration started, it had no evidence to use to assess how many Tax Credit claimants would not transfer to UC. At the time, the public finances had been under challenge so it had decided to make a safe assessment of what the non-claim rate would be, as it did not want to under-forecast the costs of UC. Its public expenditure forecast assumed an overall non-claim rate of 3% for all legacy benefit types, based on what had happened with the earlier move from incapacity benefit to ESA. It did not break the rate down between different types of benefit.29 The Department also told us that the non-claim rate for households claiming Tax Credits had remained fairly consistent during testing and as it rolled out the migration process at scale.30 In November 2023, the Department revised its migration plans and now expects 26% of households claiming Tax Credits, and 4% of households claiming other legacy benefits or combinations of benefits, will not move to UC.31
17Department identifies multiple reasons for UC non-claims, including eligibility and small awards.
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked the Department why so many people were not moving to UC. The Department said it had been doing research on this, including during the testing phase, and had changed how it did some things as a result – for example, it had made it clearer in its migration notice that people would not be automatically moved to UC. It told us there were a number of reasons why people may not apply for UC, including Tax Credit claimants no longer being eligible for support because of changes in their circumstances and people choosing not to claim because their award would be small and not worth the extra engagement with the state that UC would bring.32 The Department also said it had found no evidence during its research that the migration process presented barriers to claiming, and that around 20% could be the natural non-claim rate for Tax Credit claimants invited to move to UC.33 It highlighted that it was also planning a survey in April 2024, with Ipsos seeking to contact everybody who had not claimed UC, although it did not expect many people would respond to explain why.34
18Department does not fully understand why legacy benefit claimants fail to transfer to Universal Credit.
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department does not fully understand why some people on legacy benefits do not transfer to UC.35 It told us that it drew some comfort about the non-claim rate from 28 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.11, 2.12, Figure 12 29 Qq 93–94 30 Q 75 31 C&AG’s Report, para 2.11 32 Qq 18–21 33 Q 21 34 Qq 20, 76 35 C&AG’s Report, para 14 14 Progress in implementing Universal Credit the very low level of complaints received.36 On the day of our evidence session, it published statistics showing that, from April to December 2023, it received 20 complaints about the migration process.37 We asked whether there was a point at which the Department would consider the non-claim rate was too high. The Department said it would be concerned if people were going to their MP, for example, and reporting they had not understood the migration process and had been left without support.38
19High Universal Credit non-claim rate causes significant income loss for vulnerable households.
Recommended (the committee's words)
Organisations who work with benefit claimants submitted written evidence raising concerns about the non-claim rate and the implications if people did not move to UC. Citizens Advice, for example, said that the non-claim rate was alarmingly high and the resulting loss of income was likely to have a significant impact on the households involved.39 Similarly, the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers referred to their members’ concerns about the number of Tax Credit claimants who were failing to migrate and highlighted that the average loss of income was around £300 per month.40 The Department told us that the median value of the Tax Credits received by people who had not claimed UC was £3,200 per year.41 The Department’s in-house support for claimants
20Department's UC migration support relies heavily on helplines, with minimal home visits provided.
Recommended (the committee's words)
The Department provides practical support for claimants moving from legacy benefits to UC through a variety of channels including online through the gov.uk website, via a free telephone helpline, and face-to-face at jobcentres and through its home visiting service. So far, the Department’s support for Tax Credit claimants moving to UC has been mainly through its telephone helpline, which received more than 30,000 calls from May to September 2023. In contrast, over the same period, the Department had conducted just 23 pre-claim home visits.42
21External organisations express concerns over inadequate DWP support for vulnerable Universal Credit migrants.
Concluded (the committee's words)
Organisations who work with benefit claimants have raised concerns about the sufficiency and effectiveness of the support provided by the Department to people moving from legacy benefits under the migration process.43 In written evidence, the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers told us that there seemed to be a lack of support being put in place for more vulnerable claimants, and that the Department did not appear to have a clear plan or process about how vulnerable claimants should be supported.44 The Child Poverty Action Group stated that the Department did not provide appropriate support for claimants because it did not use the information it held on claimant vulnerability consistently.45
22Department plans enhanced support for vulnerable Universal Credit migrants, including home visits and reviews.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department expects to provide more support when it begins moving more vulnerable legacy benefit claimants to UC from April 2024. In September 2023, it began a phase of testing involving 2,000 households on Housing Benefit, Income Support, 36 Q 20 37 Department for Work & Pensions, Move to Universal Credit complaint statistics: April 2023 to December 2023, 11 March 2024 38 Q 27 39 PUC0004 40 PUC0002 41 Q 23 42 C&AG’s Report, para 2.17 43 C&AG’s Report, para 2.18 44 PUC0002 45 PUC0005 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 15 income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or a combination of benefits.46 The Department told us that, in light of the testing, it had worked hard to develop an enhanced support package for more vulnerable legacy benefit claimants.47 We asked the Department to clarify what support would be put in place for someone going through the migration process. The Department said that it would now be writing to claimants 11 weeks after sending a migration notice to remind them to claim, before attempting three outbound calls and writing to let them know it would be arranging a home visit from its visiting officers if it did not get a response from these calls.48 Additionally, the Department told us that, before stopping people’s legacy benefits, it would review all termination decisions to ensure it had exhausted all possible avenues of support.49 It also said that it could always extend a household’s migration notice beyond the usual three months if it had not been able to provide support.50
23Department confident in UC migration support, expanding visiting officers to 56 by December 2024.
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked the Department whether it was confident it could track people down and support them to continue to claim benefits, and how many more visiting officers it was planning to recruit. The Department said it was confident that it could provide the necessary support and that it had the necessary resources. It plans to have 33 (full- time equivalent, or FTE) visiting officers supporting the managed migration programme by July 2024 and 56 (FTE) by December 2024 when it expects home visits to peak.51 It estimates about 10% of claimants moving to UC will need visiting officers.52 The Help to Claim service
24Department projects increased uptake of independent "Help to Claim" service over next two years.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The ‘Help to Claim’ service has been a source of independent support and advice to people making a UC claim since April 2019. The Department funds Citizens Advice to support people to claim UC, either as a new claimant or someone moving from a legacy benefit, with support available from before people make a claim until they receive their first payment. The Department expects that more people will use the Help to Claim service in the next two years (191,000 claimants in 2024–25 and 161,000 claimants in 2025–26) than will have used it in 2023–24 (131,000 claimants).53
25Department reduced annual "Help to Claim" funding and stopped face-to-face support since March 2022.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department is providing total funding of £192.4 million for the Help to Claim service from 2019–20 to 2025–26.54 It has been reducing annual funding – from £38 million in 2019–20 to £22 million in 2023–24 and £19 million per year on average over the next two years.55 Until March 2022, the Department funded Citizens Advice to provide support through online, telephone and face-to-face channels. Since then, however, it has not funded face-to-face support, having decided instead to provide this type of support at its jobcentres or through its home visiting service.56 46 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.6, 2.19 47 Q 55 48 Q 60 49 Q 65 50 Q 83 51 Qq 70, 78, 80; Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work & Pensions to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, 22 March 2024 52 Q 80 53 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.20–2.21 54 C&AG’s Report, Figure 13 55 Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work & Pensions to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, 22 March 2024 56 C&AG’s Report, para 2.21 16 Progress in implementing Universal Credit
26Most Help to Claim support not provided by Citizens Advice or direct face-to-face services.
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked the Department whether it had conducted an impact assessment of the removal of face-to-face support from the Help to Claim service. The Department said that it had looked at how people received support and found that the vast majority got support through their family and friends, or from the Department’s jobcentres or telephone helplines. It highlighted that its testing had found that Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants liked to use their existing relationships with jobcentres and argued that this was an effective way of supporting people face to face. The Department told us that around 3% of customers received support from Citizens Advice or other agencies.57
27Department commits to supporting claimants through vital visiting teams, monitoring resource allocation.
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked whether it was more cost-effective for the Department to expand its home- visiting service as opposed to putting extra resources into the Help to Claim service. The Department told us that it was committed to supporting claimants, particularly those who were moving from its legacy benefits, to make sure they could make a claim, and described its visiting teams as vital in supporting people. It also said that it would monitor the situation and that it could move resources around should it need to.58
28Organisations express concern over lost face-to-face Help to Claim support and inadequate advice resources.
Concluded (the committee's words)
In written evidence, organisations who work with benefit claimants raised concerns about the fact that the Help to Claim service no longer included face-to-face support. The National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers said that the Department had reduced support at the very time when it was clear that there was going to be a higher need and commented that jobcentre staff did not have the resources, the benefits knowledge, the time or the independence to support vulnerable claimants.59 The Child Poverty Action Group also highlighted the loss of in-person Help to Claim support, noting that advice services were not resourced sufficiently to provide effective support.60 Transitional protection for claimants moving to Universal Credit
29Department provides transitional protection to 330,000 migrating households to avoid Universal Credit detriment.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department provides financial support to claimants it moves under the managed migration process, known as ‘transitional protection’, to make sure they are not worse off on UC at the point of moving than they were on legacy benefits. The Department calculates a claimant’s UC entitlement and then adds a top-up amount (called the ‘transitional element’) equivalent to the difference between this entitlement and the value of the legacy benefits being replaced. The Department expects to provide over 330,000 (38%) of the households it moves to UC through the current migration process with transitional protection, at an estimated cost of £1.2 billion up to the end of March 2027.61
30Concerns raised regarding accuracy, transparency, and consistency of transitional protection calculations.
Concluded (the committee's words)
In written evidence, organisations who work with benefit claimants raised concerns about how the transitional protection arrangements were working, specifically about how the Department calculated amounts due, how accurate its calculations were, and the risk that people were receiving incorrect payments which they could not check themselves due to a lack of transparency. Citizens Advice, for example, said that it had helped 1,500 people with issues around transitional protection in 2023, but that uncertainty around how the transitional element was calculated had impacted the advice it had been able to 57 Qq 81–82 58 Q 83 59 PUC0002 60 PUC0005 61 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.22–2.23 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 17 provide.62 The Housing Systems told us that it had found the Department’s approach to calculating the transitional element to be inconsistent and that it had seen examples of amounts being calculated incorrectly.63
31Department acknowledges claimant difficulty understanding transitional protection, developing guidance with stakeholders.
Concluded (the committee's words)
We asked the Department what it was doing to help vulnerable individuals understand the transitional protection arrangements. The Department told us that during its testing phase it had found that claimants struggled to understand how transitional protection worked – it was a simple concept but a complex policy to explain. It said that stakeholders had asked if it could produce a guide on complex cases and it had worked with them to do that. It was now trying to turn the guide into a publication that non-welfare advice experts could understand.64
32Automated transitional protection calculations rely on correct data input; claimant transparency is limited.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department also told us that it had automated much of the transitional protection process so that calculations were done on the system by a tested algorithm, but the system relied on the right information being input. It highlighted that it informed claimants how much of their UC award was the transitional element but did not provide all the transitional protection rules because it did not think it would help claimants to understand how the amount had been calculated. If people were not happy with the calculation, they could ask the Department about it or seek advice from a welfare rights organisation. The Department said that it was not picking up many incorrect cases but, where calculations were wrong, the mistakes were caused by it being told, and inputting, incorrect data.65 62 PUC0004 63 PUC0006 64 Q 77 65 Q 77 18 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 3 Moving Employment and Support Allowance claimants to Universal Credit
33Government delayed moving income-related ESA claimants to Universal Credit until 2028 to save £1 billion.
Concluded (the committee's words)
In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Government announced that it would delay the move of claimants on income-related ESA to UC until 2028 to save £1 billion.66 The Department told us that the economic circumstances at the time had been such that there was a need to find fiscal savings and an interest in finding reductions in spending on benefits.67 The delay in moving ESA claimants is expected to generate savings in benefit payments because, taken as a whole, the people involved would have received more under UC than under ESA.68
34Delaying ESA migration costs 600,000 claimants £130 in monthly benefits until 2028.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Department has estimated that 51% of ESA claimants, who are likely to include some of the more vulnerable claimants due to migrate to UC, would have been better off on UC by around £130 a month on average.69 In June 2022, it forecast that there were about 1.2 million people receiving ESA, of whom about 600,000 would have a higher entitlement on UC, about 100,000 would experience no change, and 500,000 would have a lower entitlement on UC and would need transitional protection to top up their payments.70 We asked whether this meant that some 600,000 claimants are losing their entitlement to extra benefit payments every month until 2028, and the Department confirmed this was the case. It highlighted that the savings arose from the fact that ESA claimants who would have been better off on UC would not now be transferred until 2028.71
35Voluntary ESA to UC migration risks losing transitional protection, impacting benefit savings estimates.
Concluded (the committee's words)
ESA claimants can move to UC voluntarily before 2028 but would not qualify for transitional protection should their UC entitlement be lower than their legacy benefit income.72 We asked whether it is possible for people to get a reliable estimate of their UC entitlement to allow them to make an informed decision about whether to move voluntarily. The Department highlighted that there are three benefit calculators, run by various groups and all available through the gov.uk website, that people can use to get an estimate of their entitlement under UC.73 It also confirmed, however, that the expected savings from delaying the move of ESA claimants depended on most of those who would be better off on UC not switching voluntarily.74
36Government's delay in migrating ESA claimants to Universal Credit lacks a clear plan.
Concluded (the committee's words)
The Government’s decision to delay the move of ESA claimants to UC until 2028 means that the Department will not complete implementation of UC until at least six years later than it planned in 2018.75 The Department told us that the number of people on 66 C&AG’s Report, para 17. In addition to income-related Employment and Support Allowance, a separate benefit called “New Style Employment and Support Allowance” can also be claimed. This chapter concerns only income- related Employment and Support Allowance. 67 Q 43; C&AG’s Report, para 3.4 68 C&AG’s Report, para 18 69 C&AG’s Report, para 19 70 Q 49; Department for Work & Pensions, Completing the move to Universal Credit, 6 June 2022 71 Q 45; C&AG’s Report, Figure 14 72 C&AG’s Report, para 19 73 Q 50; Benefits calculators available on gov.uk 74 Q 51 75 C&AG’s Report, para 9 Progress in implementing Universal Credit 19 ESA was falling as people reached pension age and moved off the benefit. It expected that by 2028 there would be around 600,000 claimants left to migrate. It has not yet developed a plan for moving these claimants to UC.76 76 Q 49; C&AG’s Report, para 17 20 Progress in implementing Universal Credit
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 11 Mar 2024Progress in implementing Universal Credit3 witnesses, listed belowparliament.uk ↗
Who gave evidence 3 witnesses
- Helga SwidenbankDirector of Accessibility and Disputes, Department for Work and Pensions
- Neil Couling CB CBEDirector General, DWP Services and Fraud
- Peter Schofield CBPermanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions
Correspondence 3 letters
- 8 May 2024Correspondence from Peter Schofield CB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions, re Acceleration of Universal Credit rollout, dated 1 May 2024
- 26 Apr 2024Correspondence dated 26 April 2024 from the Chair to Peter Schofield CB Permanent Secretary Department for Work and Pensions relating to the inquiry Progress in implementing Universal Credit
- 15 Apr 2024Correspondence from Peter Schofield CB, Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions, re Progress in implementing Universal Credit, dated 22 March 2024