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The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has published its 21st Report, which covers the period from August 2007 to July 2008.
The report expresses a number of concerns with regard to:
benefit sanctions
benefit simplification
accessible information
the use of telephones
pathways to work
new deal for lone parents
benefits for seasonal workers
the third party deduction scheme
You can view the full report from the link below.
In the Chairman’s forward the report supports initiatives that seek to build the skills of individuals and support them into paid work. It also broadly supports the use of conditionality and ‘activation’ to encourage “such initiatives that are likely to be of long-term benefit to the individual and wider society” but questions whether this approach has universal applicability.
“In our view it remains essential to provide a decent level of financial and other support to those individuals who cannot personally respond to this approach. We have been disappointed that more evidence has not been presented to show that sanctions and compulsion are effective in generating long-term sustainable employment. While sanctions may lead to better compliance with the conditions of benefit entitlement, they might not encourage more effective engagement with the support services which could eventually lead the individual to sustained employment.”
Concerns were also expressed about the Government’s failure to simplify the benefit system, the introduction of the new employment and support allowance being a stark example of greater complexity within the system.
“On the complexity front, we are concerned that the introduction of the Employment and Support Allowance in October 2008 will, at a stroke, add considerably to overall complexity because of the need to run two major benefit systems side by side for a number of years, and that this two-track arrangement will be reflected in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit provisions. Whilst this was probably unavoidable, we would have liked to see greater evidence of work being progressed on the admittedly ambitious concept of a single working-age benefit. Indeed, we remain concerned that the 2006 initiative on complexity has been limited to mostly cosmetic improvements.”
The SSAC found that in both its scrutiny of proposed legislation and in its overview of policy development, it had seen only limited evidence of progress on simplification in terms of policy design and legislation. However it recognised the difficulties and dangers of attempting to simplify the benefit system, as in the case of the rationalisation of benefit periodicity and paydays.
“This year we have noted that a very sensible proposed rationalisation of benefit periodicity and paydays (the regulations for which will come for our scrutiny later in 2008) is to be accompanied by transitional provisions that may not, in our view, take account of the needs of the most vulnerable customers or necessarily work in harmony with other changes being implemented on a similar timetable. A balance needs to be struck between the longer-term advantages that may be achieved by simplifying and streamlining administration and the short-to-medium term negative impacts on customers.”
The SSAC were not convinced that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has succeeded in making easily accessible the sort of basic, factual information that ordinary people look for when confronted with situations that can trigger questions about benefits and services. In particular:
The SSAC were concerned about:
It wants the DWP to “universally and proactively” offer call-backs to customers.
“As things stand, practice varies both across the service delivery businesses, and locally within the business networks. We believe that the Department should be moving towards common practices and standards, and a common customer service experience, irrespective of the ‘client group’ the customer may be in.”
The SSAC has some concerns about the potential of Pathways as a national programme to deliver the reductions in the numbers of people claiming ‘inactive’ benefits (such as incapacity benefit and employment and support allowance) that the Department is seeking. This is because:
The SSAC wants more done to engage employers - particularly those running small and medium sized businesses - to engage with the Department’s agenda.
It sees Local Employment Partnerships as an encouraging innovation and that Access to Work funding has the potential to improve the prospects of those customers who need on-going support in the work place.
The report noted that, during operational visits, many personal advisers (PAs) were concerned about the lack of suitable childcare provision, outside of school hours, for children with a range of needs. Many of the PAs spoken to were unconvinced of the need for greater compulsion, believing that it would make their job harder.
Attached to the report were two occasional papers
Social Security Advisory Committee Occasional Paper No. 4 - Patterns of employment, benefit eligibility and the rights and responsibilities agenda
This paper makes the case for ensuring that the benefits system is designed to support welfare to work objectives and that claimants who take up ‘seasonal’ and other temporary work are not penalised for doing so.
Social Security Advisory Committee Occasional Paper No. 5 - Third Party Deductions (TPDs): Time for a Policy Review
This paper begins by providing a basic introduction to policy regarding deductions from benefit; then considers the context for deductions (e.g. changes in utility service disconnections); the impact of deductions on claimants and examines two case studies of recent changes to the scheme. It then sets out a number of principles for a review of the scheme.
Note: for pdf files you will need to download adobe acrobat reader. To convert the pdf to alternative formats or for more information on accessibility go to access adobe.
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