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MPs call for government to delay parliament vote on Universal Credit roll-out
A cross-party group of MPs has urged ministers to delay the next parliamentary vote on the migration of Universal Credit until after the government’s benefit policy watchdog has assessed its plans.
In a report published today, the Work and Pensions Select Committee said the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC), MPs and peers need more time to assess changes to the regulations for the managed migration of Universal Credit issued this month.
The committee said the new rules are “much improved” – but it still has “major areas of concern” about the government’s plans to transfer around four million benefit claimants onto Universal Credit by 2023.
And it echoed the SSAC and National Audit Office’s calls for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to set and meet tests on its readiness for the next phase of managed migration before the transition begins.
The government has said it will not set tests until 2020 – a year after the managed migration pilot begins – but the MPs’ report said that timeline “is simply not good enough”.
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Frank Field, chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee and Labour MP for Birkenhead, said: “The committee’s main proposals seek to ensure that the risk of moving claimants from the old system of benefits onto Universal Credit lies with the government and not on the shoulders of poorer people.
“The government is thankfully making and then remaking its policy on how best to transfer existing claimants onto Universal Credit.
“It would be a pity if the government undermined this new way of thinking by not giving parliament and SSAC enough time to comment on its latest changes before it pushes parliament into a vote.”
The committee is also calling for the government to scrap the five-week wait period for claimants’ first Universal Credit payment and offer run-on payments for all six benefits which the new policy replaces.
And it wants the DWP to try to use its data on some benefit claimants to transfer them onto Universal Credit automatically, rather than making the individuals submit a new claim.
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “As we’ve said before, these regulations were open for comment on our website for several months, and over 400 stakeholders offered their views.
“During this time the Work and Pensions Select Committee did not submit any feedback.
“These regulations are designed to support people on to Universal Credit. They protect 500,000 severely disabled claimants and provide transitional protection for all those moving to Universal Credit, meaning that no one loses a penny at the point of transfer.
“Delaying these regulations would leave people on a punitive legacy benefits system that disincentives work and fails to pay people the benefits they are due – costing 700,000 families an average of £285 each and every month.”
The committee’s full report is attached.
