social security – Page 4 – The NEN

Social security net is failing during the Covid-19 crisis

The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed our benefits system to be unfit for purpose. It now needs a radical transformation

The failings of the UK’s social security system have been exposed as workers whose income has been hit by the Covid-19 crisis have sought to rely on the safety net, and in many cases promptly fallen through its holes (writes TUC’s ANJUM KLAIR).

This is the result of years of deliberate attacks on the social security system, with around £34 billion of cuts made to social security since 2010.

Over a decade of austerity, including benefit caps and freezes, a punitive sanctions regime and the introduction of the five-week wait in universal credit, has pushed working families into debt and poverty.

What has the current crisis exposed?

Claimants seeking financial support since the start of the pandemic are now experiencing the inadequacy of benefit rates: if you become unemployed, the basic rate of universal credit is £94 a week. This is around a sixth of average weekly pay.

The inability of the welfare system to cushion the financial fall for new claimants can be seen in the soaring demand on food banks during April: distribution of food parcels increased by 89 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 and for children there was a 107 per cent rise.

A survey on people’s experiences of the benefit system during the pandemic found 75 per cent of those claiming universal credit felt it would not stretch to cover their bills.

New universal credit claimants must wait five weeks for their first payment. Therefore, the system fails to support people when they are at their most vulnerable, and adds to the turbulence of their finances.

Advance loans are available, but these must be paid back out of future meagre benefit payments. People who have been reluctant to claim cite the fear of falling into debt.

Harsh and unfair rules

Callous rules have been introduced since 2010 to reduce eligibility and save money.

The benefit cap limits the sums that can be received in social security payments, without reference to household need. Analysis by the Child Poverty Action group, predicts that up to 40,000 households are likely to be affected by the benefit cap as a result of the pandemic, the vast majority of whom will be families with children.

Introducing the two-child limit for social security also breaks the fundamental link between need and what a family receives. A quarter of a million households containing 911,000 children have been affected by the policy since its introduction. It is estimated that 60,000 families could be affected as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.

Harsh and unfair rules on conditionality and sanctions have been justified to motivate people to engage with job centre support and take active steps to move closer to work. However, the evidence of the effectiveness of this policy is limited.

The UK government has ended a three-month pause on the requirement for people receiving universal credit to prove that they are looking for work. However, the job market has shrunk dramatically, and as the job retention scheme winds up the challenges of finding work will be enormous.

The current crisis has highlighted the unfortunate situation of those living in the UK under the ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ policy (NRPF), introduced in 2012. It is not right that those with the legal right to live and work in the UK and pay taxes are not entitled to access the vast proportion of social security needed in times of crisis.

NRPF restrictions have pushed working families into poverty, forcing them into unsustainable debt and into homelessness or unsafe, overcrowded, insecure housing. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, their situation has worsened considerably; they have had to choose between their own health, public health, and the financial wellbeing of their household.

We need to transform and revitalise our safety net.

Many people need to rely on the social security system at some point in their lives. Illness and unemployment can strike anyone at any time, as the pandemic has shown. And when this happens we should be able to turn to social security to help us.

We urgently need a political commitment to protect the vulnerable.

The cost of adequately funding the social security budget is small compared to the cost of not acting, which includes both the deep social costs of inequality, and the impact of millions of families with less spending power.

Making our social security system fit for purpose requires fundamental changes, including scrapping universal credit.

The immediate priority, however, is for the government to devise an urgent plan to provide financial support and security to those who need it most.

Immediate steps to fix our social safety net

Universal credit and other benefits must be substantially reformed, by:

Raising the basic level of universal credit and legacy benefits, including jobs seekers allowance and employment and support allowance, to at least 80 per cent of the national living wage (£260 per week).
Ending the five-week wait for first payment of universal credit by converting emergency payment loans to grants.
Removing the savings rules in universal credit, allowing more people to access it.
Significantly increasing benefit payments to children and removing the two-child limit within universal credit and working tax credit.
Ensuring no-one loses out on any increases in social security by removing the arbitrary benefit cap. In addition, no one on legacy benefits should lose the protection of the managed transition to universal credit as part of this change.
The suspension on conditionality requirements for universal credit needs to remain.

Sick pay must cover the basic costs of living

Statutory sick pay must be sufficient to cover basic living costs. Weekly payments must rise from £95.85 to the equivalent of a week’s pay at the Real Living Wage – around £320 a week.
The lower earnings limit for qualification for sick pay must be removed to ensure everyone can access it, no matter how much they earn.

Wider package of financial support for households

The NPRF restrictions need to be removed permanently. Everyone living in the UK must have access to public funds.
Introduce a wider package of support for households, by increasing the hardship fund delivered by local authorities. A hardship fund should not just be there for the current crisis; government should put in place a fund that provides a permanent source of grants to support those facing hardship.

Appointees should be able to collect benefits on behalf of claimants – but safeguards must be in place, say Holyrood Committee

Holyrood’s Social Security Committee has backed a Bill which would allow adult benefit claimants who consent to nominate an appointee to claim benefits on their behalf. However MSPs have warned that suitable safeguards must be put in place to limit fraud and the exploitation of vulnerable people.

The Committee has recommended the Bill be amended to include safeguarding principles that underpin the detail of how the appointee system will work and protect it from abuse. They have urged the Scottish Government to bring forward detailed guidance which should also be statutory.

The Committee published its Stage 1 report in response to the Social Security Administration and Tribunal Membership (Scotland) Bill which makes changes to the Social Security Act of 2018.

They have also backed a change which would allow health professionals, other than doctors, to verify that a claimant is terminally ill meaning their disability benefit claim would be fast-tracked.

Bob Doris MSP, Convener of the Social Security Committee, said: “The Committee welcomes this legislation and strongly supports the general principles of this Bill including allowing anyone in receipt of benefits to appoint someone to collect benefits on their behalf.

“However, submissions to the Committee from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Law Society of Scotland outlined that without suitable safeguards in the legislation, the appointee system would not be compliant with human rights legislation and could be open to abuse.

“The Scottish Government’s principal safeguard is that consent must be given. However, the legislation should go further and build in additional safeguards such as the ability to challenge appointee decisions, undertake periodic reviews and resolve disputes.

“We are also keen to see amendments brought forward at Stage 2 which would ensure there is a duty to inform people of their eligibility for all top up benefits including the Scottish Child Payment.”

Delay to social security devolution

Social Security Secretary Shirley Anne Somerville has updated Parliament on the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on social security services in Scotland.

The majority of Social Security Scotland staff are now working from home to support efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19. The delivery of existing benefits continues with applications being received, processed and payments being made.

On benefits due to be introduced from this year, the Cabinet Secretary advised that, although they were on track to deliver these benefits, plans have had to change as a result of the ongoing pandemic.

The Scottish Government, DWP, local authorities and health and social care practitioners – who are all required to develop and deliver these benefits – are currently focused on the response and recovery from COVID-19.

As a result, the introduction of Child Disability Payment and the Scottish Government’s replacement for Personal Independence Payments will be delayed.

UK Ministers have agreed that they will continue to deliver disability benefits to Scottish clients over a longer transition period.

Scottish Child Payment, which was due to be introduced from this autumn, will also be delayed. The Scottish Government will focus its resources to deliver this as soon as practicably possible. The aim is to start taking applications by the end of 2020 with payments being made from 2021, subject to sufficient staff being in place.

In her statement, Ms Somerville also outlined the markedly different approach that the Scottish Government plans to take in its delivery of disability benefits. The new decision-making process for this in Scotland will mean no face-to-face assessments and decisions will be informed by the professional judgement of health and social care practitioners – not assessors.

The new process will involve the following steps:

Social Security Scotland will make decisions using the information provided by applicants and checking this against existing guidance in the first instance
where it is not possible to make a decision, applicants will be able to tell Social Security Scotland about the health and social care professionals who already support them. Social Security Scotland will then be able to contact those professionals to collect supporting information
when it is the only practical way of collecting the information, a minority of working age clients will be invited to a discussion with a health and social care practitioner. If such a client consultation takes place, it would be arranged to suit the client, and the majority of these consultations are expected to be conducted by phone.

Ms Somerville said: “Our priority is maintaining our front-line services and delivering the seven benefits we have in place to support low income families, carers and people facing a bereavement.

“The Scottish Government, DWP, local authorities and – importantly – our health and social care services are focused on responding to the ongoing pandemic. When we get through this, these organisations will then take time to recover.

“We have had to take this into consideration in our plans for future benefits. Our approach to disability assistance was grounded in the professional judgement of health and social care practitioners and they are rightly needed elsewhere at this time. We also need to factor in that there will likely be further impact on Scottish Government and partner organisations staffing levels due to illness or caring responsibilities.

“As such, I have had to take the difficult decision to halt the introduction of disability benefits that were due within the coming year. These will continue to be delivered by the UK Government. This is the only way to ensure people continue to get the financial support they need. It provides certainty and security of payment at a time of great anxiety.

“While I cannot make guarantees around a revised timeline for the introduction of these benefits, I can guarantee that the work will not stop. And I will provide an update to timelines as soon as I am able to do so.

“We will prioritise delivering the Scottish Child Payment and we will do everything humanly possible to deliver this payment as soon as practicably possible. This new payment will play a major part in tackling child poverty, helping those who may be facing even more hardship as a result of coronavirus, and our remaining resources will be directed at that.”

Benefits: break the barriers

The UK and Scottish Governments must work more closely together to ensure people get the benefits they are entitled to, a new report by the Scottish Parliament’s Social Security Committee has said. It is estimated that currently billions of pounds in benefits go unclaimed every year.

The Committee welcomed the Scottish Government’s statutory duty to have a benefit uptake strategy and praised the Scottish Government for their attempts to increase the take-up of devolved benefits.

However they expressed express alarm at the DWP’s lack of benefit take-up strategy. The Committee suggested that Social Security Scotland could take the lead on driving forward uptake strategies for both devolved and reserved benefits.

The report raises concerns about the lack of accurate data on estimating eligibility and take-up, meaning the full extent of the problem is not known. The Committee recommended the UK and Scottish Government commission joint research to improve the data available.

The Committee also highlight the continuing barriers which can mean people do not claim benefits they are entitled to. These include the stigma of claiming, people being unaware of what they are entitled to, onerous application processes, and those living in rural Scotland facing geographical barriers.

The report also warns that the current ‘digital by default’ approach in Universal Credit is excluding people who are not IT literate or don’t have access to the internet. The Committee wants all benefits to be available through multiple application channels.

Bob Doris MSP, Convener of the Social Security Committee said: “It is simply not good enough that billions in benefits continue to go unclaimed every year. Given one of the DWP’s stated aims with Universal Credit was to increase take-up, the fact they have no strategy to achieve this is deeply alarming.

“It is absolutely vital we get more accurate data on the numbers entitled to benefits so that any communications strategies can be targeted at those in need who are missing out.

“Data sharing across Governments and agencies is a key factor in improving take-up rates and we are adamant that GDPR must not be used as an excuse to not share data. It’s also crucial that welfare agencies are adequately funded and we are seeking increased and sustained funding for these agencies going forward.

“Our evidence has made it clear that both governments must do more to work productively together to ensure people receive the benefits they are entitled to and remove any barriers which mean people miss out.”

The convener added: “We have also heard concerns over a possible policy spillover issue where if the Scottish Government increases the uptake of a reserved benefit, then they may have to financially compensate the UK Government.

“That’s unacceptable. We need urgent clarity on this issue and a far greater level of coordination for maximising benefit take-up, whether devolved or reserved, is required”.

benefit take-up report

Losing Out: tens of thousands lose disability benefits

More than half of new claims in Scotland for the UK Government’s disability payment are refused, with tens of thousands of disabled people completely losing their benefits.

Since the UK Government replaced Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in 2013, 167,000 new claims in Scotland have been unsuccessful, equal to 54% of all applications.

The analysis, produced by the Scottish Government, shows that the share of new claimants awarded PIP has decreased since the benefit was introduced, from 74% in 2013/14 to 56% in 2018/19, an 18 percentage point reduction.

In addition, 39,000 people in Scotland have lost their disability benefits completely (costing them between £1,200 and £7,740 per year) after losing their DLA entitlement when they were reassessed and refused PIP.

Since PIP was introduced, 30,000 people have had to undergo a stressful appeals process, with 21,000 of those having to go to court in order to receive their correct PIP entitlement.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “For disabled people, the stress and anxiety of the application process and face to face assessment process are already hallmarks of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

“Now this latest analysis shows that those most in need in our society are less likely to get help or have to fight through the courts to get what they are entitled to.

“While tens of thousands of disabled people are facing greater hardship because they have completely lost their benefits.

“We will do things differently as we start delivery of disability benefits over the next 18 months.

“Social security is an investment in the people of Scotland and we want people to receive all the support they are entitled to.

“That is why we are building a new social security system from scratch – with fairness, respect and dignity at its heart.”

Scottish Government Welfare_Reform _Report

Scottish Government social security reforms – Disability Assistance

Benefits take-up: Holyrood comes to Wester Hailes

Holyrood’s Social Security Committee visited Wester Hailes Education Centre yesterday as they continued their inquiry into benefit uptake. The Committee met with various organisations and individuals to try to uncover why a huge number of benefits remain unclaimed. Continue reading Benefits take-up: Holyrood comes to Wester Hailes

Holyrood Committee to investigate why millions of pounds of benefits remain unclaimed

An inquiry has been launched by Holyrood’s Social Security Committee as estimates suggest a huge number of benefits remain unclaimed by those eligible for them. The inquiry aims to explore the extent of the issue and what can be done to tackle it.

Statistics from HMRC and DWP estimated that in 2016/17 only 31% of families without children eligible for Working Tax Credit claimed, while only 60% of those eligible for Pension Credit claimed.

However, the full extent of benefit non-take-up in the UK is unknown because of difficulties in estimating eligibility.

The Committee is now looking for information on issues related to benefit uptake including why estimates of take-up are available for some benefits but not for others, and the impact of awareness raising campaigns in improving benefit uptake.

The Committee is also investigating how technology could help automate some benefits to improve take-up and how take-up rates for the new Scottish social security benefits will be impacted by their link to the take-up rates for UK benefits.

Bob Doris MSP, Convener of the Social Security Committee, (above) , said: “There can be any number of reasons for low benefit uptake rates, but it is absolutely essential that we learn the scale of this challenge and take every possible action to improve uptake.

“There is no doubt the stigma of claiming benefits hinders uptake while too often people are simply not aware of the benefits they are entitled to. Administration processes are also often too complex, and our inquiry is determined to identify any barriers to benefit uptake and how we can remove these.

“The Committee will consider the Scottish Government strategy on benefit uptake which will be published in October, but what is clear is that everything possible must be done to ensure those in need receive the full benefits they are entitled to.”

Other issues the Committee is keen to explore include if different approaches are required for different benefits, and the impact of various eligibility criteria upon take-up rates.

The call for views is open until Monday 21 October.

You can let the Committee know your views here:

http://www.parliament.scot/benefit-take-up

Volunteers invited to shape Scotland’s social security system

People with lived experience to have their say

Volunteers are being asked to shape Scotland’s new, fairer social security system.

Applications are open to people from any background with experience of the current benefits system to join the Scottish Government’s Social Security Experience Panels.

Ethnic minorities, those living in rural communities and people under 25 are being particularly encouraged to apply to make panels as representative as possible.

The 2,400 panel members who have signed up so far are helping shape every detail of Social Security Scotland – from the opening hours to the design of benefit application forms.

Members are regularly asked for their views in a number of ways, including workshops, interviews and surveys that can be carried out face-to-face, on the phone and online.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “We want social security in Scotland to be based on dignity, fairness and respect, that’s why the views from the people who actually use the service are so important.

“Panel members have told us they find the experience rewarding, offering a real chance to make a difference to thousands of people’s lives.

“Panels should be a true representation of our society, so I’d like to encourage those from all backgrounds to join us and help make the system one we can all be proud of.”

Rob, a volunteer experience panel member, said: “Sadly there isn’t a week which goes by without a story in a national newspaper highlighting the systemic problem with the current social security system administered by the DWP.

“Joining the Experience Panel has given me a renewed sense of purpose and has allowed me to meet and work alongside a range of other people with first-hand experience of the current system.

“The panels have brought us together with a common purpose to make the most of this unique opportunity to help design a new Social Security system fit for a 21st century Scotland.”

The Scottish Government Social Security Experience Panels have been running for two years and will run for at least two more.

A number of research reports have already been published on work with panel members so far.

People can apply online or by calling 0800 029 4974.

Applications can also be completed on paper forms, which can be requested on the number above or by emailing socialsecurityexperience@gov.scot.

Universal Credit responsible for increasing rent arrears, says Holyrood Committee

The introduction of Universal Credit has greatly increased rent arrears and a Scottish Parliament Committee has called for immediate action to tackle this issue. Continue reading Universal Credit responsible for increasing rent arrears, says Holyrood Committee