Universal Credit

Lord Bird Excerpts

Tuesday 13th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, as I said, we are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious plan for jobs, which is already delivering for people of all ages right across this country. We have fulfilled our commitment to recruit 13,500 extra work coaches who, through our jobcentre network, provide people with the support that they need to move into work across a wide range of sectors and vocations, including access to apprenticeships, vocational and basic skills training, careers advice and sector-based work academy programmes. I am happy to offer a further meeting with my noble friend to discuss these further.

[Lord Bird (CB)]

Does the Minister agree that if you are not very good at digital usage, if you find it difficult to get a bank account in spite of all the Government’s good efforts, or if you find it difficult to arrange your budget, this situation is very hard? For a continuous period, almost since the 1970s, we have infantilised people on social security and not given them any support to get off it. Now that we are giving them that support, all these things are happening at once. I meet hundreds of people who are struggling daily because they do not know how to handle the opportunities presented by universal credit.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

The noble Lord brings up a very good point. What we need to do, and what we have done, is to train and recruit good work coaches, working from our jobcentres, who personalise the support they give to the most vulnerable in our communities but also help them to get good jobs and reach their potential.