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Work and Pensions Select Committee – Sixth Report on the Social FundThe Work and Pensions Select Committee – Sixth Report on the Social Fund, published 23 May 2007 makes a number of findings. These include:
The report recommends that training on the Social Fund should be part of the initial training package for all Jobcentre Plus staff and that Social Fund decision-makers should be provided with more time to attend training and more time to take decisions. It also recommends that the standard of information given to Social Fund applicants on decisions is improved as a matter of priority.
1. The Committee notes the Department's admission that has caused short-term problems in some areas and the Minister's comment that he was "pretty confident" that these would not be repeated. We ask the DWP to set out its timetable for rollout to the remaining nine Benefit Delivery Centres, and what specific measures it is taking to prevent similar disruption to the operations of the Social Fund. (Paragraph 13)
2. We have been told that the DWP is currently reviewing the operation of the Standard Operating Model. We ask that this review includes a detailed analysis of whether the current call handling problems are being caused by poor sharing of best practice between Centres, or by a lack of staffing resources. A copy of the full review should be sent to us for consideration. We also ask DWP to set out precisely when it will have national, comparable, management information about Centres' call handling performance. (Paragraph 30)
3. The Committee recommends that training on the Social Fund should be part of the initial training package for all Jobcentre Plus staff and that the necessary resources should be made available to facilitate this. We also recommend that Jobcentre Plus continues its efforts to ensure that all managers and offices are aware that applications for the Fund can be made by calling into a local office, and by post, and takes steps to collect statistics of incidents of non-compliance nationally. (Paragraph 35)
4. The Committee remains concerned that a person applying for a Crisis Loan - who by the nature of the claim is in a vulnerable position - should be refused the use of a customer service phone in a Jobcentre Plus office to make an application. The Committee therefore recommends that the Department should make swift progress including talks with PCS to remedy this situation, and we urge both sides to come to a resolution as soon as possible. We also ask the Department to review the number of "warm phones" in Jobcentre Plus offices in relation to footfall and examine the possibility of creating greater privacy for users. (Paragraph 39)
5. The Committee recommends that more effort is put into ensuring that calls from people applying for Crisis Loans are answered as soon as possible to take account of the costs incurred by mobile phone users. The Committee also trusts that the DWP will do everything it can to ensure that the freephone 0800 number is extended to all areas of the country as soon as possible. (Paragraph 45)
6. We recommend that the issue of alignment payments is dealt with swiftly and that the Department takes steps to learn the lessons of what has been achieved in Northern Ireland. Although Jobcentre Plus has reduced the proportion of alignment payments, the fact that 33% of Crisis Loans are being used, in effect, to cover benefit delays is unacceptable. (Paragraph 49)
7. The Committee recommends that Social Fund decision-makers should be provided with more time to attend training and more time to take decisions. DWP should make the resources available to Jobcentre Plus and the Independent Review Service to make this possible. In addition to this the Committee endorses the recommendation by the Social Fund Commissioner that Jobcentre Plus puts in place "appropriate quality assurance, improvement strategies and external validation of decision-making" and asks the Department to have such a programme in place along with a report to the Committee on it by the rising of the House for the Summer Recess. We further recommend that the Department investigates the discrepancies in accuracy figures between districts, identifies the causes and ensures solutions are in place; this too should be reported back to the Committee. (Paragraph 57)
8. The Committee recommends that the standard of information given to Social Fund applicants on decisions is improved as a matter of priority. The Department should also ensure that all those who have applied for a Crisis Loan by telephone and who have been refused are sent a letter confirming that a Crisis Loan application has been turned down with the reasons for the rejection clearly set out. (Paragraph 61)
9. While recognising the trade off between speed and accuracy, we recommend that more work should be done to improve Social Fund clearance times, as it is unacceptable for claimants to have to wait for long periods of time for payments which by their nature are needed urgently. There should also be greater monitoring of clearance times on a regional basis, and areas which are consistently missing their targets should be investigated and provided with more resources or greater training to remedy the situation. (Paragraph 68)
10. The Committee recommends that the formula for allocating Community Care Grants be reviewed and additional funds made available so that all high priority needs are fulfilled. We agree with the Social Fund Commissioner that it is "unacceptable that someone can qualify [for a Grant] and have the items assessed as high priority and still not get a payment because there is not enough money." (Paragraph 77)
11. We recommend that further research be conducted on ethnic minorities' experience of the Social Fund to explore the causes of low participation and that the Department extend monitoring of take-up of the Social Fund to cover ethnicity, gender and age. (Paragraph 85)
12. While the Committee welcomes the Government's campaign to tackle financial exclusion, the lack of reform of the Social Fund is at odds with the forward steps taken with these strategies. Credit unions cannot fill this gap. Evidence received from several sources pointed out that credit unions have an important role to play in helping people on low incomes, but are not an affordable solution for destitute people. We recommend that access to mainstream financial services should be developed alongside improved availability of grants and interest-free loans for those eligible for the Social Fund, recognising that these are the only appropriate means to meet the immediate needs of the most vulnerable in society. (Paragraph 99)
13. We encourage the Government to look in more detail at the potential for increasing the eligibility for the Social Fund and report back to us on its findings. (Paragraph 101)
14. It is our impression that Social Fund policy is currently in limbo, pending wider Government work on financial inclusion. Given the severe operational and resource issues which we have described in this report, we recommend that the DWP must now address the performance of the Fund as a matter of urgency, and launch a formal consultation exercise on how it can be improved. (Paragraph 104)
You can view our response to Work and Pensions Committee inquiry to the social fund by clicking on the link below.
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