Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 17
17
Department identifies multiple reasons for UC non-claims, including eligibility and small awards.
Conclusion
We asked the Department why so many people were not moving to UC. The Department said it had been doing research on this, including during the testing phase, and had changed how it did some things as a result – for example, it had made it clearer in its migration notice that people would not be automatically moved to UC. It told us there were a number of reasons why people may not apply for UC, including Tax Credit claimants no longer being eligible for support because of changes in their circumstances and people choosing not to claim because their award would be small and not worth the extra engagement with the state that UC would bring.32 The Department also said it had found no evidence during its research that the migration process presented barriers to claiming, and that around 20% could be the natural non-claim rate for Tax Credit claimants invited to move to UC.33 It highlighted that it was also planning a survey in April 2024, with Ipsos seeking to contact everybody who had not claimed UC, although it did not expect many people would respond to explain why.34