Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Rejected
DWP evaluations focus on employment likelihood, not job security or specific types of work
Conclusion
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
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the implied recommendation to track job types and duration for UC claimants, stating it was not a program objective and would not provide the desired insights for evaluating Universal Credit's impact.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
2.1 The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. 2.2 Tracking the types of employment Universal Credit claimants take up, and the duration of the claim, were not objectives of the Universal Credit Programme. 2.3 The department remains committed to understanding the labour market effects of Universal Credit and regularly monitors the labour market outcomes of Universal Credit customers using internal management information, as well as through a range of monthly and quarterly official statistics: the Office for National Statistics (ONS) claimant count, the department’s own Universal Credit official statistics, His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs-ONS payroll employment statistics and ONS statistics on employment, unemployment, inactivity, and workforce jobs. 2.4 The department is continuously developing Universal Credit statistics and has a wide-ranging research and evaluation programme on a range of departmental activity including five published impact evaluations, all showing the positive impact Universal Credit has had on employment. 2.5 The department does not agree that tracking a subset of claimants and publishing information on their employment, including a longitudinal study, would create the insight for which the Committee is hoping. This is because it could not show what would have happened in the absence of Universal Credit, and therefore would not help to prove the business case benefits. It would monitor outcomes but not isolate the impact of Universal Credit. The department, therefore, does not agree that this recommendation would be of significant value in the context of the Universal Credit business case impacts.