Recommendations & Conclusions
18 items
3
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees and will publish Universal Credit non-claim rates by legacy benefit type, extending to wider types as migration progresses, and will monitor rates closely with remedial actions if needed. It also commits to publishing the results of the …
HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees and will monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of its in-house support for Universal Credit claimants by tracking claimant journeys, phone call volumes, face-to-face referrals, and introducing a Complex Case Coach role for oversight.
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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, …
Government response. The government agrees and will comprehensively monitor the Help to Claim service through weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings, board reviews, and mid- and end-of-year reports to ensure it meets demand, especially for vulnerable claimants.
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government acknowledges the need to be ready for the migration of ESA claimants by 2024-25, building on existing learnings by capturing the effectiveness of enhanced support journeys through monitoring, with initial findings expected in 2024.
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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
Government response. The government states it has existing evaluation requirements from the Green and Magenta Books, has set up an Evaluation Task Force, published updated guidance on Treasury Approvals in April 2024, and will update the Magenta Book in 2025 to clarify …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, committing to publishing quarterly statistics on non-claim rates for wider legacy benefit types as they migrate and to publishing results of a dedicated survey of Tax Credit non-claims by the end …
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's concerns and states it has implemented enhanced support, including estimating resources, monitoring claimant journeys, introducing a Complex Case Coach role, and establishing a control centre to oversee the process and resourcing.
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, detailing how it has estimated resources, will monitor the enhanced support journey for vulnerable claimants, introduced a Complex Case Coach role, and will oversee monitoring of the enhanced support journey.
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's point, stating it has estimated resources for enhanced support, will monitor claimant journeys and needs, and has introduced a Complex Case Coach role and a control centre to oversee support and detect resourcing concerns.
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government states the recommendation has been implemented, detailing existing comprehensive monitoring activities and ongoing work with Citizens Advice to ensure the Help to Claim service remains effective and can meet demand, especially for future claimant migrations.
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government states it agrees with the implicit recommendation and confirms it already comprehensively monitors the Help to Claim service, working with Citizens Advice to ensure effective support. It is also considering the impact of upcoming migration changes to ensure …
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing existing comprehensive monitoring activities of the Help to Claim service and expressing confidence in its current effectiveness, without committing to address the specific concern regarding the removal of face-to-face support or conducting …
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government states it agrees with the implicit recommendation and confirms it already comprehensively monitors the Help to Claim service, working with Citizens Advice to ensure effective support. It is also considering the impact of upcoming migration changes to ensure …
HM Treasury
28
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government states the recommendation is implemented, detailing existing comprehensive monitoring activities of the Help to Claim service and expressing confidence in its current effectiveness, without committing to address the specific concern regarding the loss of face-to-face support.
HM Treasury
33
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees with the implicit recommendation, confirming a recent policy change to bring forward the migration of ESA claimants to 2024-25 instead of 2028. It states it has existing learnings and further plans to monitor the enhanced support journey …
HM Treasury
34
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees and acknowledges the need to bring forward the migration of the Employment and Support Allowance cohort from 2028 to 2024-25, citing a recent policy change to accelerate this process. The department will also monitor the effectiveness of …
HM Treasury
35
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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 …
Government response. The government agrees with the implicit recommendation, confirming a recent policy change to bring forward the migration of ESA claimants to 2024-25 instead of 2028. It states it has existing learnings and further plans to monitor the enhanced support journey …
HM Treasury
36
Conclusion
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in imple…
Accepted
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. …
Government response. The government agrees with the implicit recommendation to develop a plan, confirming a recent policy change to bring forward the migration of ESA claimants to 2024-25 instead of 2028. It states it has existing learnings and further plans to monitor …
HM Treasury