Universal Support is an offer of support with using a computer to make a claim, and support with personal budgeting.
Work and Pensions Committee website
DWP envisaged that Universal Support would include both short-term help for claimants to adjust to the immediate challenges of Universal Credit, as well as longer-term help for vulnerable claimants who would otherwise struggle to adapt.
The Work and Pensions Committee says that, done well, this could also play a vital part in ensuring that Universal Credit delivers its wider objectives, including improved employment rates and savings to the public purse.
However, the gap between the Department’s vision for Universal Support in 2013, and the meagre offer it now funds, is vast.
The Work and Pensions Committee wants the DWP to:
- immediately lift the three-month waiting time for receiving support
- engage quickly and positively with its new delivery partner, Citizens Advice, to agree arrangements for funding multiple Universal Support sessions where there is evidence of claimant need.
- offer advice on managing debt effectively as a core element of Universal Support, offered to all claimants.
- publish data on Universal Credit debt deductions and use this to review its maximum deduction caps and ensure they are set at levels that would be sustainable for most claimants.
- introduce a new, flexible, discretionary approach to debt management, drawing on best practice in the retail sector.
- introduce a ‘Support conversation’ between Work Coaches and claimants at the outset of each claim and require Work Coaches to revisit this periodically in case a need emerges later.
- commit to funding Universal Support throughout the managed migration period.
- to deliver the support people need – especially as those with more complex needs start to move onto Universal Credit.