- Committee proposes changes to new UC rules set to go
through Parliament
- MPs must be able to assess new rules and protections
before they vote
In a short report published urgently today, Thursday 22 November
2018, the Work and Pensions Committee says the Government must
delay the vote on the next phase of Universal Credit until both
its own Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and Parliament
have had a chance to assess the Government’s plans. The
Committee concluded that despite changes announced in last
month’s budget, “major areas of concern” about the Government’s
plans remain.
The Committee, the National Audit Office and SSAC have all called
on the Department to set tests for readiness that must be met
before so-called “managed migration” – the next phase of
transferring existing benefits claimants onto Universal Credit -
begins. The Committee says the Government’s insistence that it
will not do so until 2020—a year after its “managed migration”
pilot begins—“is simply not good enough: it must commit to
setting the tests it will meet before the pilot begins. The
tests, and an analysis of whether they have been met, should be
published before managed migration moves to scale in 2020.”
MPs on all sides of the House of Commons have pleaded with the
Government not to go ahead with transferring claimants from
existing benefits to the much-troubled Universal Credit until it
can guarantee that every claimant will be migrated safely onto
the new benefit and none will be left destitute. The
Committee is now calling on Government to:
- Delay the vote on the new regulations that will set the
procedures for moving claimants onto Universal Credit from
existing benefits under “managed migration”, until MPs, Peers,
and SSAC have been given a proper chance to assess these
regulations
- Extend “run on” payments to all the benefits that Universal
Credit will replace: not just Housing Benefit, Jobseeker’s
Allowance, and Employment and Support Allowance.[1]
- Eliminate the five week wait for the first Universal Credit
payment for claimants who are being “managed” migrated
- Use its existing data on claimants automatically to move them
onto Universal Credit, wherever this is possible.[2]
Rt Hon MP, Chair of the Committee,
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.”
Notes:
2 This will not cover claimants of tax credits and the
self-employed who already have to bring their income up to date.
[2] This will
not cover claimants of tax credits and the self-employed who
already have to bring their income up to date.
