Recommendation 5

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.