Any second surge in new benefit claims and unemployment as the furlough scheme comes to an end could disrupt the Department’s ability to provide employment support. At the start of the pandemic, the Department moved around 10,000 extra staff into claim-handling roles to respond to a surge which reached over 100,000 new claims a day at its peak. The Department has also hired 13,500 new work coaches and in doing so has returned work coach caseloads to pre-pandemic levels. The Department believes that it is now better equipped to respond to any further wave of benefit claims when furlough ends and that it could again respond by diverting resources towards benefit administration. However, the Department effectively switched off many of the usual conditions attached to people’s benefits entitlements to manage the first surge in claims, meaning claimants could not meet their work coach, and employment support was not provided. Responding in this way in the event of another claimant surge may not be an option: if people are expected to return to work once furlough ends, the Department will reasonably be expected to maintain its employment support offer. Recommendation: By October 2021, the Department should write to us with an explanation of how its contingency plans will ensure it can continue to provide its employment support alongside administering new claims in the event of a second surge in new claims, and avoid the scarring effect of unemployment and disruption to the recovery.