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Social security watchdog warns on planned Universal Credit switchover
The government should not force all claimants to make a fresh application for benefits to avoid payments being cut off, when Universal Credit is rolled out to existing claimants next year.
This is the view of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC), the official body, which scrutinises and advises on welfare reform issues.
Writing to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last week, the committee warned against requiring all claimants to submit a fresh claim when the ‘managed migration’ stage of Universal Credit begins in July.
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This process is the complicated task of moving more than two million households off the legacy system and onto Universal Credit.
So far, the combined benefit – which has been widely condemned for exposing claimants to hardship – has only been offered to people making a new application for benefits, or those whose circumstances change enough to merit a new claim.
Under the current plan, which will begin with a limited pilot of around 10,000 cases in July, claimants will be given three months’ warning that they need to switch to the new system.
If they do not make a fresh claim in this time, their benefits will automatically shut off entirely – leaving them without any income.
A DWP spokesperson said: “Universal Credit is a force for good for the vast majority, and the managed migration regulations are set to be debated in parliament in due course.”
Critics have warned that this risks plunging some of the most vulnerable in society, including the long-term disabled, into destitution.
In his letter to Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, Sir Ian Diamond, chair of the SSAC, wrote: “We remain concerned about one particularly significant risk that persists: the government’s expectation that everyone must make a claim to Universal Credit in order to be migrated to it.
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“We remain unconvinced that it is necessary to ask all claimants on legacy benefits to make a claim for Universal Credit, and to produce the necessary supporting evidence – especially in those circumstances where ID has already been verified by the department.”
The SSAC also praised the DWP for “taking a number of positive steps to reduce the level of risk in some aspects of the proposals, including a commitment to take claims over the phone and during home visits where appropriate, and we welcome that”.
Last week, a committee responsible for scrutinising secondary legislation in the House of Lords warned there was “insufficient information” to pass the regulations required to give the power for ‘managed migration’ to begin.
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