17
Accepted
Department identifies multiple reasons for UC non-claims, including eligibility and small awards.
Conclusion
We asked the Department why so many people were not moving to UC. The Department said it had been doing research on this, including during the testing phase, and had changed how it did some things as a result – for example, it had made it clearer in its migration notice that people would not be automatically moved to UC. It told us there were a number of reasons why people may not apply for UC, including Tax Credit claimants no longer being eligible for support because of changes in their circumstances and people choosing not to claim because their award would be small and not worth the extra engagement with the state that UC would bring.32 The Department also said it had found no evidence during its research that the migration process presented barriers to claiming, and that around 20% could be the natural non-claim rate for Tax Credit claimants invited to move to UC.33 It highlighted that it was also planning a survey in April 2024, with Ipsos seeking to contact everybody who had not claimed UC, although it did not expect many people would respond to explain why.34
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee, stating it will expand quarterly statistics to include non-claim rates for wider legacy benefit types, closely monitor these rates, develop remedial actions if issues arise, and publish the results of a dedicated survey by year-end.
Government Response
Accepted
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The department currently publishes statistics on claim rates to Universal Credit, by legacy benefit type, on a quarterly basis. These statistics will start to include the non-claim rates for wider legacy benefit types (over and above the initial Tax Credits cohort) as these additional cohorts begin to be migrated in sufficient numbers onto Universal Credit. 3.3 The amount of data available on non-claim rates by legacy benefit type will still be quite limited for the August 2024 publication (which will include data up to the end of June 2024), due to the migration timescales. 3.4 The non-claim rates will be monitored closely via the Move to Universal Credit Implementation Control Centre, whilst they are close to forecasts presently, should the rates be higher than expected from discovery work, further analysis and investigation will be undertaken. If the insights from this work suggest there are issues to be addressed, the Universal Credit Programme will develop remedial actions based on the insights. The department will be content to share details of these actions with the Committee, should they be required. 3.5 In addition, the department will publish the results of the dedicated survey of Tax Credit non-claims and associated learning, by the end of the year.
Source
Committee
Public Accounts Committee
Report
Twenty-Ninth Report - Progress in implementing Universal Credit
26 Apr 2024
HC 458
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age
2.3 yrs
Report published
26 Apr 2024