Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Accepted
Explain how lessons from current migration programme will prepare for ESA claimant move.
Conclusion
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
Government Response Summary
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.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented The department acknowledges the need to be ready for migration of the Employment and Support Allowance cohort in 2024-25 as opposed to 2028. This is in-light of the recent policy change to bring the migration of the Employment and Support Allowance cohort forward and deliver this element as part of the current Universal Credit Programme. The department has existing learnings from the Discovery phases run in 2022 and 2023 which included claimants on Employment and Support Allowance. There are further plans to build upon this by capturing how effective the enhanced support journey is at supporting claimants on Employment and Support Allowance to Move to Universal Credit. This monitoring will include, but is not limited to, claim rates and channel, time to claim and additional support needed. Initial findings based on Employment and Support Allowance claimants with Tax Credits will be emerging this calendar year, 2024.