Problems in migrating to Universal Credit

The National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) has made a submission to the Social Security Advisory Committee about ‘managed migration’ to Universal Credit.  They point to a series of problems:

  • the difficulties people have in making digital claims
  • the lack of reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities
  • requiring claimants to make claims in order to migrate, and using mistakes or omissions as a reason to demand  fresh claims
  • insufficient levels of ‘universal support’
  • obstacles to cooperation with welfare rights advisers
  • the DWP’s apparent inability to engage with the process by which claimants report changes, the electronic ‘journal’
  • the inappropriate use of sanctions.

All of this implies a need to “pause and fix”.  But even if that happens, the fundamental problems in the design and delivery of the benefit will still be there.

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