The petition of residents of the constituency of Glasgow East,
Declares that punitive social security cuts as well as the rising use of conditionality means that more and more people are turning to advice services, such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, to advocate on their behalf with the Department of Work and Pensions; and further that many advice service staff and volunteers are spending far too much time waiting to speak with DWP staff on general telephone lines.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to set up a Department of Work and Pensions dedicated telephone line for advice services.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by David Linden, Official Report, 19 July 2022; Vol. 718, c. 931 .]
[P002745]
Observations from the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (David Rutley):
There are several channels that citizens can use to contact the Department dependent on the benefit, including:
making an online claim
via telephone using a freephone number
visiting a Jobcentre
using a Universal Credit online account
The DWP supports citizens from working age to pension age, those with disabilities and health conditions, alongside those seeking child maintenance support for children and is committed to providing a quality telephony service across this vast range of services.
The Department answers around 3 million calls per month, and all colleagues, across the various phone lines, are trained in specific products and services. The vast majority of customer queries can be completely resolved through the telephone services; however some complex cases require a handover to caseworkers.
As the largest service in the DWP, Universal Credit has a dedicated line to support Citizens Advice colleagues specifically dealing with queries within the Help to Claim service.
The DWP closely monitors the percentage of calls answered and the average speed they are answered on a regular basis to assure services are delivering and that the right levels of resource are deployed.
In addition, the Department regularly engages with key national organisations representing claimants across all benefit areas through our established and trusted Operational Stakeholder Engagement Forum (OSEF). Operational updates are shared at the monthly forum meetings and stakeholders are given the opportunity to raise questions and voice areas of concern. This provides useful insight to help the Department improve products and services.
For these reasons, the DWP has no plans to create a dedicate telephone line for advice services.
Furthermore, the DWP has plans to introduce new technology to improve the callers experience. This will feature enhanced call routeing and self-service capabilities, reducing call volumes to colleagues and increasing efficiency and effectiveness. The Department also plans to build a number of new channels through which citizens can access services and obtain the information they need at a time that suits them.
In response to the pandemic, the Department temporarily suspended the requirement for face-to-face appointments for all claimants. This was a necessary intervention to protect DWP staff and customers. As public health restrictions have relaxed, conditionality has been reintroduced, but sanctions remain at low levels.
The claimant commitment sits at the centre of the Department’s approach to conditionality. It is jointly agreed between the claimant and the Department and sets out the reasonable requirements expected of claimants to help them get into work. No claimant is given a sanction unless they fail to fulfil their obligations in the jointly agreed claimant commitment.