DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry
Opened: 11 Sep 2025 Parliament page
The Public Accounts Committee will be following up recent scrutiny with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in autumn 2025, on various topics. The PAC’s July 2025 report on Jobcentres warned that government seemed complacent at the potential impact of a reduction in support for benefit claimants. Amid a … Read more
9 Recommendations
18 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 5 events
20 Apr
2026
Correspondence
1 Apr
2026
Report published
9 Jan
2026
Report published
24 Nov
2025
Correspondence
30 Oct
2025
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
30 Oct 2025
View on parliament.uk
Barbara Bennett · Department of Work and Pensions Helen Wylie · Department of Work and Pensions Sir Peter Schofield KCB · Department for Work and Pensions
Title HC No. Published Items Response
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025 HC 1447 9 Jan 2026 27 Response document linked
Recommendations & Conclusions
27 results
2 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Monitor the impact of shortening Universal Credit first work coach meetings, including claimant feedback.
The Department does not have assurance that shortening the first meeting a Universal Credit claimant has with a work coach to 30 minutes will not adversely affect the support it provides. We reported previously that 57% of jobcentres had used … Read more
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3 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Publish regular jobcentre-level data on work coach numbers and into-work rates for transparency.
Greater transparency about jobcentre performance is needed to enable effective local scrutiny. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we recommended that the Department should set out how it will increase transparency around jobcentres, for example by regularly publishing jobcentre-level … Read more
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4 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Provide detailed data on PIP claim processing times, including breakdown by specific duration categories.
It is unacceptable how long some PIP claimants are having to wait for their claims to be processed, which can cause them to get into debt and push them into poverty. The Department does not have an adequate plan to … Read more
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5 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Provide information on legacy IT risk reduction plans and multi-benefit pilot rollout timetable.
While we are encouraged that the Department has ambitious plans to address the risks associated with its legacy IT systems, implementing these plans over the next three years will be highly challenging. Reducing reliance on legacy IT systems is a … Read more
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1 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Committee gathers evidence from DWP on issues from previous scrutiny.
We took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) to follow up on issues arising from our recent scrutiny of a range of topics.1
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6 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP implements machinery of government changes for skills, including staff and budget transfers.
The Department told us that, at one level, machinery of government changes were straightforward because one could announce them; but, at another level, there was a lot of detailed delivery work that needed to happen. It said that it was … Read more
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7 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP merges jobcentres with National Careers Service, enhancing post-19 careers support.
We asked the Department about the merger of jobcentres with the National Careers Service and specifically about how it would do better at giving advice to young people about what their wishes and skills were best 7 Machinery of Government … Read more
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8 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP insources National Careers Service advice by October 2026, committing to retain staff skills.
The Department said that it was in the process of setting up the new jobs and careers service, which would need to be done by October 2026 when the current National Careers Service contracts came to an end. It had … Read more
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9 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP complacency on impact of reduced work coach support and flexibility framework noted.
Work coaches in jobcentres play a critical role working directly with Universal Credit claimants to identify their needs and provide support. In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we highlighted that the Department had not had enough work coaches to … Read more
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10 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP permanently implemented three local flexibility framework measures, reducing claimant support.
In June 2025, just before we published our report, the Department wrote to tell us that it had made three of the measures in the framework permanent. Two of these measures involved reducing the frequency of appointments for customers in … Read more
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11 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP lacks evidence on shortened claimant meeting impact and claimant feedback.
In September 2025, the Department wrote to us again and acknowledged that it did not hold quantitative evidence on the impact of changing the length of the first meeting claimants have with a work coach. It said that, as this … Read more
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12 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP asserts no economic model dictates meeting length and highlights system flexibility.
In our October 2025 oral evidence session, the Department highlighted that there was never an economic model that said the length of the first meeting should be 50 rather than 30 minutes. It also emphasised that there was flexibility in … Read more
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13 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP jobcentre performance data lacks transparency on work coach numbers and into-work rates.
In our July 2025 report on Jobcentres, we also scrutinised jobcentre performance. We noted that, although the Department published data on its Stat-Xplore platform relating to the number of claimants in each Universal Credit labour market category at jobcentre level, … Read more
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14 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
New quarterly labour market insights lack individual jobcentre and work coach data.
In response to our recommendation, on the day of our evidence session in October 2025, the Department published the first in a new series of quarterly labour market insights. The Department explained that this publication provided information at jobcentre district … Read more
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15 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Department avoids publishing granular jobcentre performance data due to practical challenges.
We asked the Department why it had not published performance data at jobcentre level as we had requested. The Department said that the challenge of presenting data at jobcentre level was that the geography of a jobcentre could be relatively … Read more
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16 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Poor service quality creates financial hardship for claimants and additional departmental costs.
The quality of service that the Department provides matters because claimants rely on the accurate and timely payment of the benefits to which they are entitled to avoid or mitigate financial hardship. We noted in our January 2025 report on … Read more
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17 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP's Service Modernisation Programme addresses significant unmodernised services and legacy IT.
The Department recognises that significant parts of its services remain largely unmodernised. Its Service Modernisation Programme is an 11-year organisation-wide programme, estimated to cost £312.1 million and running from 2022–23 to 2032–33, which is seeking to deliver benefits for customers, … Read more
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18 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP failing to meet targets for timely processing of new Personal Independence Payment claims.
In our report on DWP Customer Service and Accounts 2023–24, we highlighted that claimants of disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance, were receiving an unacceptably poor service. One element of this was the 23 … Read more
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19 Recommendation
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Rising Personal Independence Payment caseload complicates existing multi-step application process.
The Department told us that it was important to take into account that, since the 75% target was set, the PIP caseload had gone up by more than 50%. In addition, it highlighted that the process of applying for PIP … Read more
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20 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Significant delays in PIP claims cause debt and poverty, requiring urgent departmental attention.
We noted examples of constituents who had waited over a year for their PIP claims to be processed, and that the Department had told a Member’s office that claims would take more than 12 months.28 These delays can cause claimants … Read more
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21 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Health Transformation Programme progress on PIP claims is too slow for claimants.
As it has done previously, the Department pointed to the work it was doing to transform the PIP service through its Health Transformation Programme. It explained that, as part of this programme, it was testing an online application form which … Read more
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22 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP developing new integrated IT system for Personal Independence Payment processing.
The Department also highlighted that it was trialling the idea of having a named caseworker to support claimants with the PIP application process: helping customers understand the eligibility requirements, talking them through the evidence they needed to provide, acting as … Read more
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23 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
DWP recognises significant cyber risk given sensitive data and essential public services.
In our May 2025 report on government cyber resilience, we concluded that government had not kept up with the severe and rapidly evolving cyber threat, that there was a longstanding shortage of experienced, technical cyber skills, and that departments had … Read more
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24 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Department demonstrates existing robust cyber security assurance and oversight mechanisms
The Department told us that it had its own assurance programme based on the world-class National Institute of Standards and Technology assurance programme, and that it also used the GovAssure process which is the government standard for the most critical … Read more
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25 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Department maintains a prioritised cyber incident response and business continuity framework
The Department explained that it had a security incident response framework in place that, in the case of a cyber attack, would enable it to keep its services running as much as possible. It told us that its business continuity … Read more
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26 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Department received specific funding to upgrade high-risk legacy IT systems over three years
We asked the Department if it had been given extra resources to deal with some of its legacy IT and what its plans were. The Department confirmed it did get specific funding in the Spending Review for both its increase … Read more
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27 Conclusion
60th Report - DWP follow-up: Autum…
Department’s legacy IT upgrade plans risk repeating past digital transformation failures
The Department told us that, if implemented successfully, its plans to upgrade its legacy IT could transform its customer service and productivity, enabling it to provide services where customers could do more for themselves where they are able to, and … Read more
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Correspondence 2 letters
20 Apr 2026 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee relating to DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025, 30 March 2026
Parliament page
24 Nov 2025 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session DWP follow-up: Autumn 2025 on 30 October 2025, 14 November 2025
Parliament page