The Chair and members of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) will face questions from MPs in a one-off session on Wednesday, October 12 examining the ‘managed migration’ process for moving people from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. The SSAC is an independent body responsible for advising the Secretary of State on Social Security matters.
The cross-party Work and Pensions Committee, chaired by Sir Stephen Timms MP, are expected to ask about the impact of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision to scrap its commitment to ask Parliament for a vote to scale up the programme after 10,000 claimants were moved during a test period. The Committee may ask whether this reduces accountability, especially considering SSAC’s own claim that DWP’s planned approach to oversight amounts to “marking its own homework”.
With the Help to Claim Service due to end in March 2023, despite managed migration accelerating later in the year, the Committee may also ask whether there are sufficient safeguards to protect claimants who do not move themselves to Universal Credit as expected.
The session is also expected to probe the DWP’s feedback process, the value of the findings from the initial Harrogate pilot, and the transparency and management of the Universal Credit programme.
Witnesses appearing before the Work and Pensions Committee:
- Dr Stephen Brien, Chair, Social Security Advisory Committee
- Carl Emmerson, Committee member, Social Security Advisory Committee
- Charlotte Pickles, Committee member, Social Security Advisory Committee
You can watch the session live on Parliament TV from 9.15am on Wednesday, October 12 here.
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