Recommendations & Conclusions
27 items
2
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted
The Department does not have assurance that shortening the first meeting a Universal Credit claimant has with a work coach to 30 minutes will not adversely affect the support it provides. We reported previously that 57% of jobcentres had used the Department’s ‘local flexibility framework’ which set out measures that …
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The Department does not have assurance that shortening the first meeting a Universal Credit claimant has with a work coach to 30 minutes will not adversely affect the support it provides. We reported previously that 57% of jobcentres had used the Department’s ‘local flexibility framework’ which set out measures that jobcentres could implement when the caseload of their work coaches became too high. In June 2025, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures 3 in the framework permanent, including shortening the first meeting that claimants have with a work coach from 50 to 30 minutes. In September 2025, the Department wrote to us again and acknowledged that it lacks quantitative evidence on the impact of this change. While the Department has some feedback from frontline staff that claimants can be adequately supported within the reduced timeframe, we note that it has gathered no feedback from claimants. The Department says there is flexibility in work coaches’ schedules to allow for initial meetings to be extended if needed, or for subsequent meetings to be arranged. However, this seems to be at the discretion of individual work coaches and we fear that the bar to qualify for an extended meeting may be set too high. Without clear guidelines, claimants with more complex needs may not get the support they need. recommendation The Department should set out how it will monitor the impact of shortening the first meeting claimants have with a work coach, including how it will assess the impact on different groups of claimants. As part of its monitoring, the Department should obtain feedback from claimants.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and will undertake a qualitative research project to gather claimant insights on their experiences at the initial claimant commitment meeting, including feedback on its length and content.
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Rejected
Greater transparency about jobcentre performance is needed to enable effective local scrutiny. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we recommended that the Department should set out how it will increase transparency around jobcentres, for example by regularly publishing jobcentre-level data, including data on work coach numbers against need and …
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Greater transparency about jobcentre performance is needed to enable effective local scrutiny. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we recommended that the Department should set out how it will increase transparency around jobcentres, for example by regularly publishing jobcentre-level data, including data on work coach numbers against need and into-work rates. On the day of our evidence session in October 2025, the Department published the first in a new series of quarterly labour market insights. This publication provides into-work data at jobcentre district and local authority level but not for individual jobcentres, and provides no information on work coach numbers. In seeking to justify its approach, the Department says that data at jobcentre level are less robust and subject to more volatility, and that it is concerned that publishing data at this level could lead to it having to explain the particular circumstances of each jobcentre, which would require a lot of resources. We are disappointed by this response and, while we welcome the new publication, without greater transparency, effective local scrutiny of jobcentre performance will not be possible. recommendation The Department should be more transparent by implementing our previous recommendation to publish regularly jobcentre-level data, including data on work coach numbers against need and into-work rates. This data could be included in the new quarterly labour market insights publication. 4
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Government response AI summary
The government rejects the recommendation to regularly publish jobcentre-level data on work coach numbers and into-work rates, stating that district and local authority level data is more appropriate for monitoring performance due to the risk of over-interpreting local fluctuations.
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HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted
It is unacceptable how long some PIP claimants are having to wait for their claims to be processed, which can cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty. The Department does not have an adequate plan to improve this in the short term. The Department aims to …
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It is unacceptable how long some PIP claimants are having to wait for their claims to be processed, which can cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty. The Department does not have an adequate plan to improve this in the short term. The Department aims to process 75% of new PIP claims within 75 working days but, in 2024–25, only 51% of claims were processed within this timeframe. We have constituents who have waited a long time for their claims to be processed, in some cases over a year. As it has done previously, the Department pointed to its Health Transformation Programme as the long-term solution to improving the service it provides to PIP claimants. As part of this, the Department is testing in a few postcodes an online application process, which it says has typically reduced the time taken to process claims by 20 days and enabled it to achieve its target. In 2023, the Department told the previous Committee that it intended to process up to 20% of PIP claims using the new online service by 2026. We are concerned, however, that this timetable may not be achieved as the Department now says only that it believes it can reach the 20% target by 2029 when the programme is due to be completed. This is far too long for claimants to have to wait to get a better service. We note that the programme is likely to be used to apply a test and learn approach to the recommendations that come out of the Timms review of PIP, however, the Department should not allow this to result in further delays to improvements. recommendation Alongside its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to the Committee to provide: • for 2024–25, more detailed data on the time taken to process new PIP claims, specifically a breakdown of the number and proportion of claims processed as follows: ○ within the target of 75 working days; ○ after the 75-day target but within six months; ○ after six months but within 12 months; and ○ after 12 months. The Department should also pro
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and will write to the Committee by the end of March 2026 to provide the requested detailed data breakdown on PIP claims processing times for 2024-25. It also notes current average processing times are 16 weeks and outlines other service improvements and …
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted
While we are encouraged that the Department has ambitious plans to address the risks associated with its legacy IT systems, implementing these plans over the next three years will be highly challenging. Reducing reliance on legacy IT systems is a key part of the Department’s service modernisation programme and will …
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While we are encouraged that the Department has ambitious plans to address the risks associated with its legacy IT systems, implementing these plans over the next three years will be highly challenging. Reducing reliance on legacy IT systems is a key part of the Department’s service modernisation programme and will also help it to manage the significant cyber risks it faces. The Department plans to reduce the overall risk from its legacy IT systems by 58% over the next three years and to tackle the larger systems which are used by more staff and customers first. If implemented successfully, these plans could transform the Department’s customer service and productivity. For example, the Department told us it is piloting a customer account which would enable citizens to do things across multiple benefits, rather than just one by one. However, as we have noted before, major digital transformation programmes have often failed to deliver as intended, and government is struggling to modernise a legacy environment at the same time as harbouring a major ambition to exploit opportunities from new technologies such as AI. recommendation The Department should set out more information about: • its plans for reducing the risk from legacy IT systems over the next three years, including milestones for replacing key systems, and the changes its customers can expect as a result; and • the timetable for rolling out its pilot to enable citizens to do things across multiple benefits, rather than just one by one, and how long it will take to evaluate this pilot. 6 1 Jobcentres and skills Introduction
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees and details its accelerated three-year plan to address 36 critical legacy IT systems, including full transformation, refactoring, and code fixes, aiming for improved customer service. It is developing the first iteration of a multi-benefit customer account, will launch a message centre MVP …
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HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
We took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) to follow up on issues arising from our recent scrutiny of a range of topics.1
Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's introductory statement and outlines its ongoing reforms to the Post-16 education and skills system, including the transfer of adult skills and careers responsibility to the DWP, the creation of the Jobs and Careers Service, and the integration of the …
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HM Treasury
6
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department told us that, at one level, machinery of government changes were straightforward because one could announce them; but, at another level, there was a lot of detailed delivery work that needed to happen. It said that it was bringing over officials from the Department for Education into the …
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The Department told us that, at one level, machinery of government changes were straightforward because one could announce them; but, at another level, there was a lot of detailed delivery work that needed to happen. It said that it was bringing over officials from the Department for Education into the Department for Work and Pensions, and the two departments were creating a joint unit to support the Minister for Skills. Budgets would formally transfer at the main estimates for the next financial year, and the Permanent Secretaries for the two departments had shared letters to clarify accounting officer responsibilities while they worked through the detail. The Department noted that a key thing to work out would be how it could ensure that Skills England focused its work on the needs of the economy, and how it could use labour market initiatives to underpin that.12
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the importance of access to education and skills and has transferred responsibility for adult skills and careers to DWP to create a single government lead. It outlines the plan for the Jobs and Careers Service.
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HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
We asked the Department about the merger of jobcentres with the National Careers Service and specifically about how it would do better at giving advice to young people about what their wishes and skills were best 7 Machinery of Government – Skills, HCWS930, 16 September 2025 8 HM Government, Post-16 …
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We asked the Department about the merger of jobcentres with the National Careers Service and specifically about how it would do better at giving advice to young people about what their wishes and skills were best 7 Machinery of Government – Skills, HCWS930, 16 September 2025 8 HM Government, Post-16 Education and Skills, CP 1412, October 2025, p 6 and 12-13 9 Qq 19, 22 10 Qq 19, 22 11 Q 21 12 Q 20 8 directed towards. The Department said that there would be no change to the current arrangements whereby, for many young people, the first conversation with a careers adviser happens at school at the point where young people make important life choices about what qualifications to do. The changes would be to post-19 support for careers where the Department’s aim would be to enhance and develop the offer and embed it into everything else that is done at a jobcentre.13 The Department said it was excited about the prospects for the new integrated service, which would allow it to take a careers conversation with a customer through to a skills conversation and then through to an employment conversation.14
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will be bringing together the National Careers Service with Jobcentre Plus from 1 October 2026. As the new service is being developed, the department will look to incorporate information on users’ skills and available provision to signpost …
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HM Treasury
8
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department said that it was in the process of setting up the new jobs and careers service, which would need to be done by October 2026 when the current National Careers Service contracts came to an end. It had taken over the contracts but Ministers had decided to insource …
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The Department said that it was in the process of setting up the new jobs and careers service, which would need to be done by October 2026 when the current National Careers Service contracts came to an end. It had taken over the contracts but Ministers had decided to insource careers advice services from 1 October 2026. We asked the Department if it would make sure it retained in the new organisation the skills contained within the National Careers Service providers. We believe this is very important. The Department told us that insourcing was important so that it could try different things rather than having to negotiate them through a commercial contract. It said it had time to get the new arrangements right, including bringing over talented staff from the existing providers.15 Reduction in work coach support for claimants
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the importance of retaining skills from the National Careers Service providers and has transferred responsibility for adult skills and careers to DWP to create a single government lead. It outlines the plan for the Jobs and Careers Service.
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HM Treasury
9
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted
Work coaches in jobcentres play a critical role working directly with Universal Credit claimants to identify their needs and provide support. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we highlighted that the Department had not had enough work coaches to meet the need for support. We noted that 57% of …
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Work coaches in jobcentres play a critical role working directly with Universal Credit claimants to identify their needs and provide support. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we highlighted that the Department had not had enough work coaches to meet the need for support. We noted that 57% of jobcentres had used the Department’s ‘local flexibility framework’ which set out measures that jobcentres could implement to reduce the support they provide for claimants when the caseload of their work coaches became too high. We concluded that the Department seemed complacent about the impact that this reduction in work coach support might have on claimants. We recommended that the Department should evaluate the impact on claimants of jobcentres implementing measures from its local flexibility framework, and share the results with us, before making any of the measures permanent.16 13 Q 18 14 Q 23 15 Qq 17, 22-24, 74 16 Committee of Public Accounts, Jobcentres, Thirty-Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 823, 2 July 2025, pp 3-4 and 11 9
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts the recommendation to evaluate the impact of reduced claimant support by Summer 2027. They will undertake a qualitative research project to gather claimant insights on the initial claimant commitment meeting.
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HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
In June 2025, just before we published our report, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures in the framework permanent. Two of these measures involved reducing the frequency of appointments for customers in the Intensive Work Search group. The third measure was shortening …
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In June 2025, just before we published our report, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures in the framework permanent. Two of these measures involved reducing the frequency of appointments for customers in the Intensive Work Search group. The third measure was shortening the first meeting claimants have with a work coach—the ‘claimant commitment meeting’ when customers are talked through the requirements of their claims—from 50 to 30 minutes.17
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Government response AI summary
The government will conduct qualitative research to understand the impact of the 30-minute initial claimant commitment meeting on the claimant experience, with findings used in developing the Jobs and Careers Service.
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HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
In September 2025, the Department wrote to us again and acknowledged that it did not hold quantitative evidence on the impact of changing the length of the first meeting claimants have with a work coach. It said that, as this measure was part of the local flexibility framework, many jobcentres …
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In September 2025, the Department wrote to us again and acknowledged that it did not hold quantitative evidence on the impact of changing the length of the first meeting claimants have with a work coach. It said that, as this measure was part of the local flexibility framework, many jobcentres were familiar with the policy and feedback from frontline staff who had previously used the framework suggested that customers could be adequately supported within the reduced timeframe.18 We note, however, that the Department has gathered no feedback on this approach from claimants themselves.
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Government response AI summary
The government will conduct qualitative research to understand the impact of the 30-minute initial claimant commitment meeting on the claimant experience, with findings used in developing the Jobs and Careers Service.
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HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Deferred
In our October 2025 oral evidence session, the Department highlighted that there was never an economic model that said the length of the first meeting should be 50 rather than 30 minutes. It also emphasised that there was flexibility in the system, for example to allow for initial meetings to …
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In our October 2025 oral evidence session, the Department highlighted that there was never an economic model that said the length of the first meeting should be 50 rather than 30 minutes. It also emphasised that there was flexibility in the system, for example to allow for initial meetings to be extended or for subsequent meetings to be arranged. The Accounting Officer recounted a recent visit to a jobcentre where he had seen a work coach extend an initial meeting to 40 minutes, knowing that their next customer had not arrived. Had the next customer been waiting, the work coach had said they would have decided whether the conversation needed to be continued there and then, and asked a colleague to take their next appointment if needed, or rebooked the first customer for another appointment if not. The Department also noted that the claimant commitment meeting was the start of a process–that meeting was followed by weekly meetings for claimants in the Intensive Work Search category for the first 13 weeks of their claim, so the conversations could continue.19 Transparency of local jobcentre performance
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Government response AI summary
The department will be undertaking a qualitative research project to gather claimant insight on their experiences at the initial claimant commitment meeting. It will use the findings from this qualitative research alongside learning from the claimant commitment testing in its Pathfinder sites to consider the …
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HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Rejected
In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we also scrutinised jobcentre performance. We noted that, although the Department published data on its Stat-Xplore platform relating to the number of claimants in each Universal Credit labour market category at jobcentre level, it did not 17 Letter from the Department for Work …
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In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we also scrutinised jobcentre performance. We noted that, although the Department published data on its Stat-Xplore platform relating to the number of claimants in each Universal Credit labour market category at jobcentre level, it did not 17 Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions, 30 June 2025 18 Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions, 9 September 2025 19 Q 9 10 publish data on work coach numbers compared with need or on jobcentre performance in helping people move into work. We also reported that there was variation between different parts of the country in the shortfall of work coaches and in performance. We recommended that the Department should set out how it will increase transparency around jobcentres, for example by regularly publishing jobcentre-level data, including data on work coach numbers against need and into-work rates.20
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation to publish jobcentre-level data, stating that the right level to monitor performance is at a district and local authority level. However, they will continue to develop the Get Britain Working Labour Market Insights publication and would be happy to …
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HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Rejected
In response to our recommendation, on the day of our evidence session in October 2025, the Department published the first in a new series of quarterly labour market insights. The Department explained that this publication provided information at jobcentre district level and local authority level, which allowed it to monitor …
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In response to our recommendation, on the day of our evidence session in October 2025, the Department published the first in a new series of quarterly labour market insights. The Department explained that this publication provided information at jobcentre district level and local authority level, which allowed it to monitor progress outcomes across the different conditionality groups of Universal Credit.21 However, we note that the publication does not give data on individual jobcentres, and provides no information on work coach numbers.
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees, stating the right level to monitor performance is at a district and local authority level, citing potential over-interpretation of short-term fluctuations at the jobcentre level. It is developing its quarterly Labour Market Insights and welcomes feedback.
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HM Treasury
15
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Rejected
We asked the Department why it had not published performance data at jobcentre level as we had requested. The Department said that the challenge of presenting data at jobcentre level was that the geography of a jobcentre could be relatively small and the position could be distorted by someone leaving …
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We asked the Department why it had not published performance data at jobcentre level as we had requested. The Department said that the challenge of presenting data at jobcentre level was that the geography of a jobcentre could be relatively small and the position could be distorted by someone leaving a jobcentre or a major employer suddenly going out of business. It argued that the danger in giving data for some 640 jobcentres was that it would probably have to provide a commentary to explain the particular circumstances of each jobcentre, and that a lot of resources would go into doing that. The Department also said that the level of assurance over the quality of the data diminished when one went down to jobcentre level so its preference was to report data that had been aggregated.22 20 Committee of Public Accounts, Jobcentres, Thirty-Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 823, 2 July 2025, p 5 and 14 21 Qq 2-3; DWP, Get Britain Working: Labour Market Insights, 30 October 2025 22 Q 15 11 2 Customer service, cyber security and legacy IT Introduction
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees, stating the right level to monitor performance is at a district and local authority level, citing potential over-interpretation of short-term fluctuations at the jobcentre level. It is developing its quarterly Labour Market Insights and welcomes feedback.
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HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Not Addressed
The quality of service that the Department provides matters because claimants rely on the accurate and timely payment of the benefits to which they are entitled to avoid or mitigate financial hardship. We noted in our January 2025 report on DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24 that poor service can …
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The quality of service that the Department provides matters because claimants rely on the accurate and timely payment of the benefits to which they are entitled to avoid or mitigate financial hardship. We noted in our January 2025 report on DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24 that poor service can have a range of detrimental impacts, including frustration, distress and disruption for customers, and additional cost for the Department as it, for example, has to deal with repeated calls from customers chasing progress.23
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Government response AI summary
The government repeats the committee's statement.
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HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department recognises that significant parts of its services remain largely unmodernised. Its Service Modernisation Programme is an 11-year organisation-wide programme, estimated to cost £312.1 million and running from 2022–23 to 2032–33, which is seeking to deliver benefits for customers, staff and taxpayers. This programme includes plans to upgrade substantial …
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The Department recognises that significant parts of its services remain largely unmodernised. Its Service Modernisation Programme is an 11-year organisation-wide programme, estimated to cost £312.1 million and running from 2022–23 to 2032–33, which is seeking to deliver benefits for customers, staff and taxpayers. This programme includes plans to upgrade substantial parts of the Department’s legacy IT systems.24 Processing Personal Independence Payment claims
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HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted in Part
In our report on DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, we highlighted that claimants of disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance, were receiving an unacceptably poor service. One element of this was the 23 Committee of Public Accounts, DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, …
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In our report on DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, we highlighted that claimants of disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance, were receiving an unacceptably poor service. One element of this was the 23 Committee of Public Accounts, DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 354, 23 January 2025, p 2 24 Committee of Public Accounts, DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 354, 23 January 2025, p 12; Qq 65-67 12 Department’s performance in processing new claims.25 Unfortunately, this continues to be the case, with only 51% of new PIP claims processed within 75 working days in 2024–25 against the Department’s target of 75%.26
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Government response AI summary
The Department will write to the Committee to provide the requested data on PIP claim processing times by the end of March 2026, while standardising measures to 90% of cases cleared format; however, they will include it in the 2025-26 ARA.
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HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted in Part
The Department told us that it was important to take into account that, since the 75% target was set, the PIP caseload had gone up by more than 50%. In addition, it highlighted that the process of applying for PIP involved a number of steps which all took time. The …
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The Department told us that it was important to take into account that, since the 75% target was set, the PIP caseload had gone up by more than 50%. In addition, it highlighted that the process of applying for PIP involved a number of steps which all took time. The traditional process was that a customer would telephone to make a claim and the Department would send them a long, detailed paper application form in the post. Once the customer had completed and returned the form, the Department would refer it to an outsourced health assessor who would carry out and write up the health assessment, before a departmental official would decide on the customer’s entitlement to the benefit.27
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Government response AI summary
The Department will write to the Committee to provide the requested data on PIP claim processing times by the end of March 2026, while standardising measures to 90% of cases cleared format; however, they will include it in the 2025-26 ARA.
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HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
We noted examples of constituents who had waited over a year for their PIP claims to be processed, and that the Department had told a Member’s office that claims would take more than 12 months.28 These delays can cause claimants to get into debt and push them into poverty.29 The …
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We noted examples of constituents who had waited over a year for their PIP claims to be processed, and that the Department had told a Member’s office that claims would take more than 12 months.28 These delays can cause claimants to get into debt and push them into poverty.29 The Department told us that the experiences we described were not showing in its statistics but acknowledged that it was obviously a genuine situation that it needed to address.30
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Government response AI summary
The department has reviewed its timeliness standards, which reflect current policy and drive correct outcomes and will include this in the 2025-26 ARA. The department will however write to the Committee to provide the information available as requested, by the end of March 2026, to …
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HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
As it has done previously, the Department pointed to the work it was doing to transform the PIP service through its Health Transformation Programme. It explained that, as part of this programme, it was testing an online application form which took claimants to the questions that related to their situation, …
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As it has done previously, the Department pointed to the work it was doing to transform the PIP service through its Health Transformation Programme. It explained that, as part of this programme, it was testing an online application form which took claimants to the questions that related to their situation, making it quicker to complete. The Department said it was testing the full online process in only a few postcodes, but in those places it had, on average, reduced the time taken to process claims by 20 days, and enabled it to achieve its target to process 75% of PIP claims in 75 days.31 In 2023, the Department told the previous Committee that it had started to process applications from claimants living in specific postcodes in London and Birmingham and that it intended to process up to 20% of PIP claims using the new online service by 2026.32 However, during our evidence session, two years later, the Department 25 Committee of Public Accounts, DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, Sixth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 354, 23 January 2025, p 1 26 The Department for Work and Pensions, Annual Report and Accounts 2024–25, HC 995, July 2025, p 72 27 Qq 26-27 28 Qq 25-26 29 Q 30 30 Q 28 31 Qq 29, 40 32 Committee of Public Accounts, Revising health assessments for disability benefits, Third Report of Session 2023–24, HC 79, 29 November 2023, pp 7-8 and 10 13 said only that it believed it could reach the 20% target by 2029, when the programme is due to be completed.33 We think that this is far too long for claimants to have to wait to see an improvement in how their claims are processed.
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Government response AI summary
The department has reviewed its timeliness standards, which reflect current policy and drive correct outcomes and will include this in the 2025-26 ARA. The department will however write to the Committee to provide the information available as requested, by the end of March 2026, to …
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HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department also highlighted that it was trialling the idea of having a named caseworker to support claimants with the PIP application process: helping customers understand the eligibility requirements, talking them through the evidence they needed to provide, acting as a point of contact and explaining the final decision on …
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The Department also highlighted that it was trialling the idea of having a named caseworker to support claimants with the PIP application process: helping customers understand the eligibility requirements, talking them through the evidence they needed to provide, acting as a point of contact and explaining the final decision on their claim. It told us that it has not had an integrated IT system for PIP – each of the different elements have had their own IT, and the outsourced providers have had their IT. However, it was now developing a new IT system that would support the end-to-end process.34 Cyber risks and upgrading the Department’s legacy IT
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Government response AI summary
The department will provide the committee with requested information by the end of March 2026, and is offering opportunities to reduce journey times through service improvements.
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HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
In our May 2025 report on government cyber resilience, we concluded that government had not kept up with the severe and rapidly evolving cyber threat, that there was a longstanding shortage of experienced, technical cyber skills, and that departments had not done enough to prioritise cyber security.35 The Department told …
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In our May 2025 report on government cyber resilience, we concluded that government had not kept up with the severe and rapidly evolving cyber threat, that there was a longstanding shortage of experienced, technical cyber skills, and that departments had not done enough to prioritise cyber security.35 The Department told us that it had identified cyber risk as one of its most significant risks and it was something that its executive team looked at very closely. It stressed that, given the significance of the customer data it had and the nature of the essential services it provided, cyber attack had to be avoided at all costs.36
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Government response AI summary
The Department told us that it had identified cyber risk as one of its most significant risks and it was something that its executive team looked at very closely. It stressed that, given the signif
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HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department told us that it had its own assurance programme based on the world-class National Institute of Standards and Technology assurance programme, and that it also used the GovAssure process which is the government standard for the most critical systems. The Accounting Officer explained that security as whole was …
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The Department told us that it had its own assurance programme based on the world-class National Institute of Standards and Technology assurance programme, and that it also used the GovAssure process which is the government standard for the most critical systems. The Accounting Officer explained that security as whole was overseen on his behalf by the Department’s Finance Director General and by the departmental audit and risk committee. The Department said that it had dedicated staff who were expert in what they did, and this was a larger group of people than it had historically been. It also noted that it was building capability for the whole of government and was the home of the security academy.37 33 Q 40 34 Q 29 35 Committee of Public Accounts, Government cyber resilience, Twenty-Fourth Report of Session 2024–25, HC 643, 9 May 2025, pp 3-4 36 Q 57 37 Q 57 14
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Government response AI summary
The Department told us that it had its own assurance programme based on the world-class National Institute of Standards and Technology assurance programme, and that it also used the GovAssure process which is the government standard for the most critical systems.
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HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department explained that it had a security incident response framework in place that, in the case of a cyber attack, would enable it to keep its services running as much as possible. It told us that its business continuity plan would put in place the most important steps first—getting …
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The Department explained that it had a security incident response framework in place that, in the case of a cyber attack, would enable it to keep its services running as much as possible. It told us that its business continuity plan would put in place the most important steps first—getting money to people—with some of its advisory processes being of lower priority.38
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and describes the department's plan to address the 36 most critical legacy systems, which account for around 65% of the caseload, within the coming Spending Review.
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HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Accepted
We asked the Department if it had been given extra resources to deal with some of its legacy IT and what its plans were. The Department confirmed it did get specific funding in the Spending Review for both its increase in cyber security and its ‘legacy tech debt’ programme. It …
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We asked the Department if it had been given extra resources to deal with some of its legacy IT and what its plans were. The Department confirmed it did get specific funding in the Spending Review for both its increase in cyber security and its ‘legacy tech debt’ programme. It explained that it had aggregated the risk scores for every single system it had categorised– scoring each system against a number of dimensions. Over the next three years, it was planning to upgrade its high-risk legacy systems with the aim of reducing its overall risk score from legacy IT by 58%. The Department said that it planned to tackle the larger systems used by more staff and customers first, with the 36 highest-risk systems being addressed this year. It told us that it was not that its legacy systems could not be protected from cyber attack, but it had to put layers of protection in place so that specific threats relevant to one bit of the overall system were lessened.39
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Government response AI summary
The government is already upgrading its high-risk legacy systems, aiming to reduce overall risk by 58% over the next three years and plans to tackle the largest systems first.
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HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025
Acknowledged
The Department told us that, if implemented successfully, its plans to upgrade its legacy IT could transform its customer service and productivity, enabling it to provide services where customers could do more for themselves where they are able to, and to take away some of the more administrative tasks that …
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The Department told us that, if implemented successfully, its plans to upgrade its legacy IT could transform its customer service and productivity, enabling it to provide services where customers could do more for themselves where they are able to, and to take away some of the more administrative tasks that staff spent too much time doing to free up their capacity to spend more time serving customers. It said that it had just launched a customer account which would enable citizens to do things across multiple benefits, rather than just one by one.40 However, we have previously noted that major digital transformation programmes have often failed to deliver as intended, with government struggling to modernise a legacy environment at the same time as harbouring a major ambition to exploit opportunities from new technologies.41 38 Qq 62-63 39 Qq 58-59, 68-69 40 Qq 53, 64 41 Committee of Public Accounts, Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers, Twenty-Seventh Report of Session 2024–25, HC 640, 6 June 2025, p 1 15
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and states that the Service Modernisation Programme is delivering as intended. They outline several achievements and future improvements to the Customer Account.
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HM Treasury