Asked by: Lord Bishop of Portsmouth (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 4 February (HL4519), what assessment they have made of the effect of changes to the guidance and promotion of Short Term Benefit Advances.
Answered by Lord Freud
DWP has taken steps to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances. Jobcentres have posters and leaflets covering Short Term Benefit Advances and staff have been provided with updated guidance. Information is also available on GOV.UK
We are continuing to monitor the impact of this activity on the number of requests for STBAs.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Portsmouth (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Freud on 4 February (HL4518), what measures they have taken to ensure that benefit claimants are aware of the availability of Short Term Benefit Advances; and whether they have now implemented the changes to information provision announced in December 2014.
Answered by Lord Freud
DWP has taken steps to raise awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances. Jobcentres have posters and leaflets covering Short Term Benefit Advances and staff have been provided with updated guidance. Information is also available on GOV.UK
We are continuing to monitor the impact of this activity on the number of requests for STBAs.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Portsmouth (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures are in place to monitor the adherence of job centres to Department for Work and Pensions guidelines that staff should make the availability of Short Term Benefit Advances known to benefit claimants before advising them of other local sources of short-term support; and how they plan to enforce that guidance if instances of non-adherence are identified.
Answered by Lord Freud
Jobcentre staff follow guidance that states customers should only be referred to other local sources of help if they can not get a Short Term Benefit Advance (STBA) or any other form of DWP support in the first instance. When local sources of help is required, staff will look at what is available through the District Provision Tool and signpost accordingly.
Earlier this year, DWP undertook activity to raise awareness in Jobcentres of STBA. All Jobcentres displayed posters about STBA and staff were up skilled in the processes and procedures of STBA. Persistent non-compliance of the process by staff could lead to disciplinary action being taken.