PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES - United Kingdom Parliament

117 9 MAY 2012 Universal Credit
118
Universal Credit
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House
do now adjourn.—(James Duddridge.)
9.38 pm
Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op): May I
say what a lucky honour it is to have the first Adjournment
debate of the new Session?
In October 2013, we will see one of the biggest
changes to the welfare benefits system since the second
world war with the introduction of the new universal
credit. The Welfare Reform Act 2012 has gone through,
and there was a lot of focus on the fairness and unfairness
of various benefit changes, but there was not much
focus on the administrative changes involved in the
move to universal credit—the changes to the process of
applying for benefits and being assessed for them. We
should all welcome to some extent the rationalisation of
a series of disparate benefits that have grown up over
the decade. The administrative components of universal
credit will include the tax credit system, housing benefit,
income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance,
employment and support allowance and so on.
Tonight, we are not debating the principle of universal
credit, but considering the roll-out of the administration
for the new arrangement and, of course, the massive
consequences for our constituents. If it goes well—hopefully,
it will—they may not notice anything untoward, but
there are massive risks if the administrative transition is
not handled competently and carefully. That is essentially
the purpose of my set of questions for the Under-Secretary
in the short time available today. I sent a list of the
issues that I broadly wanted to raise to her private office
earlier today because some of the questions are technical.
I hope that we can get a little more on the record
because there has not been that much opportunity to
debate those issues so far, and we are talking about a
change that will affect a million people in the first six
months of the roll-out of universal credit from October
2013.
One of the most interesting facets of universal credit
is the Government’s decision that it should be digital by
default: in other words, they are working on the assumption
that the vast majority of claimants will access their
claims online. I think that the Government’s assessment
is that 80% of those claims will be made online. My first
question therefore is whether the Under-Secretary can
reaffirm that that figure still represents the Government’s
assumption. Could she perhaps also give us a logical
explanation of how that beautifully neat and round
figure of 80% was reached?
Many people who apply for universal credit are not
exactly frequent internet users: 15% of council tenants
have no access to the internet; one in six adults generally
have never used it—that figure is as high as one in four
in Northern Ireland, and one in five in the north-east
and in Wales—and 4 million disabled people have never
used it. Consumer Focus research shows that 69% of
people want the ability to have face-to-face transactions
for benefit claims at post offices and so on. I therefore
want to get a sense from the Under-Secretary of her
contingency plan if the 80% target is missed. How will
we move towards such a major shift in the way in which
people apply for their benefits? We are considering the
livelihoods of many people.
Universal credit will be a household, not an individual
benefit. It will be assessed on a whole household, so a
vast amount of supporting documentation will have to
be processed when individuals change their entitlements.
Again, how can that supporting documentation be assessed
online? How will it be assessed centrally, given that we
will move away from the localisation of many applications?
That online assumption must be tested significantly.
As a corollary, the next issue is the extent to which
the Government commit resources for the minority,
whom they accept will struggle with applying online.
What resources will be available for face-to-face advice
and support for claimants who cannot go down the
digital route? I understand that the Department is planning
some sort of 0845 hotline numbers, but they are expensive,
especially for people with mobile phones. However, I
am particularly interested in knowing how much money
has been put aside for the face-to-face service.
A recent survey of the many district councils in
England and Wales suggests that they believe that 50%
of people coming through their doors and applying, for
example, for housing benefit, need to do that face to
face. Obviously, that is at odds with the Government
assessment of presumably only 20% needing some sort
of support other than the online arrangement. Investing
so much in the online arrangement is clearly a dangerous
ambition. I understand the logic of wanting greater
take-up of digital applications, but I am anxious that
the target is so high, and I want to get a sense of the
scenario planning and the arrangements that the
Government have considered if it is simply not deliverable.
We should cast our minds back to the difficulties with
online tax credit arrangements. There was significant
fraud, which had to be addressed and meant the
arrangements had to be changed. Will the Minister say
on the record that she is happy with the anti-fraud
measures and the robustness and security of the new
online universal credit system? Clearly, it would be a
tragedy if so many people were directed to an online
system that had to be scaled back at the last minute
because individuals found a way of fraudulently fleecing
it because it was not secure or robust.
Will the Minister give an assurance—her noble Friend
Lord Freud was unable to do so during the passage of
the Welfare Reform Act 2012—that the Government’s
intention to move to a monthly payment arrangement
will have a degree of flexibility? In theory, it is desirable
for everybody to plan their budgets and household
expenditure on a monthly basis, to mimic in-work salary
arrangements, but the trouble is that it is not the experience
to date of many people. Many of my constituents in
Nottingham, who have suffered a great deal of deprivation
or who are not on significant amounts of money take
the parcels of money that come in housing benefit or
other benefits and hypothecate them for rent, bills or
other things. We are asking a great deal of people,
sometimes later on in their lives, to change their habits
and take payments at the beginning of the month and
ensure that they budget so that their rent is fully paid
for the rest of the period and beyond.
The danger that people will accumulate increasing
arrears to pay for the roof over their head worries
me significantly, never mind local authorities, which
already say that they have concerns about the collection
of rent payments. Currently, housing benefit can be
paid directly to the landlord, the local authority or the