The Work and Pension Select Committee of MPs has today issued a report that says the DWP must “prove it is up to the job” before a single claimant is transferred onto Universal Credit through managed migration.
The Committee says that the DWP “should immediately set tests of operational readiness” based on those recommended by its own expert advisory council, the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the National Audit Office’s recommendations, and ensure it is meeting those tests before it begins even the pilot phase of managed migration.
Its new report highlights that the DWP has provided no convincing reason why it won’t accept these expert recommendations.
Chair of the Committee Frank Field MP said:
“DWP is still talking semantics: we are talking about people. Six months after we started pressing them on the next potential Universal Credit (UC) disaster on the horizon, the Department is yet to prove it’s up to the job of so-called “managed migration”.
He added that:
“If the Department is confident that UC is operationally ready to begin the managed migration pilot, there is no explanation for not setting and meeting the tests to demonstrate this.
The Department should also publish the results of the tests so that it is also clear to the Committee, the SSAC, other stakeholders and – crucially - claimants, that the Department is capable and ready to begin this process: without putting any claimants at risk of what the Committee has previously described as the “unholy trinity” of debt, hunger and homelessness that has followed in the wake of Universal Credit as it rolled out across the country so far.”
The Committee’s report shows that three sets of tests of readiness for managed migration are needed:
Operational tests of readiness are necessary before starting the pilot to make sure that UC is operating as it should for claimants.Provisional tests of readiness for managed migration ‘at scale’ are necessary to make sure that the Department collect the data they need during the pilot;
Provisional tests of readiness for managed migration ‘at scale’ are necessary to make sure that the Department collect the data they need during the pilot;
Final tests of readiness are necessary to know if the Department is ready to begin managed migration at scale.