Benefit delivery: Committee publishes Government response
12 July 2016
The Work and Pensions Committee has published the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) response to its report on Benefit delivery, published on 21 December 2015.
- Benefit delivery: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2015–16
- Benefit delivery: Government Response to the Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2015–16 (PDF 205KB)
- Inquiry: Benefit delivery
- Work and Pensions Committee
DWP must address benefits errors
The Committee's report recommended that the Department publish statistics on Mandatory Reconsideration clearance times and DWP have said official statistics are being developed. However, the Department has rejected the Committee's call to publish data on ESA and WCA clearance times, as well as statistics on Short-term Benefit Advances.
The Government accepts that the transition from asylum support to mainstream benefits can be difficult. It has committed to carrying out a study later this year on the impact of recent changes to the system. The Department will consider introducing a landlord portal for Universal Credit if user feedback demands it.
The Department considers that setting a target for reducing underpayments is unnecessary, despite the Committee and the Public Accounts Committee's recommendations on this.
Chair's comment
Frank Field MP, Chair of the Committee said:
"We note that the DWP took six months to respond to this report, the central point of which was about delivering the correct benefits on time, and the hardship that is caused by delays.This response is very timely in one sense though, in that the NAO has just reported that total underpayments have increased to their highest level to date.
The DWP has said it considers setting a target for reducing underpayments unnecessary despite our recommendation, and same recommendation by the Public Accounts Committee. That low income people and families struggling to make ends meet were underpaid £1.8 billion in benefits last year strongly suggests otherwise.
The Auditor General has also refused to sign off the Department's accounts for the 24th year running, at least partly due to unacceptably high levels of benefits error. We welcome the additional pledges DWP has made but will be watching to make sure they act on them."
Further information
Image: PA