Covid-19: DWP Update

Clive Efford Excerpts

Monday 4th May 2020 Commons Chamber

[Dr Coffey]

I am pleased that we have added to the jobs website on dwp.gov.uk, and there are about 58,000 vacancies currently advertised there. I am supportive of all the work that has gone on under my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education, such as on how people can get new skills, including through courses that are being made available online. There are, therefore, opportunities to consider upskilling while people are, sadly, not working, and people can also speak to their work coaches about potential further assistance.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

It cannot be fair that families on the benefit cap are not benefiting from the uprating of payments that has happened during this crisis. The Resolution Foundation has predicted that, in over two thirds of local authority areas, a couple with two children in an average three-bedroom house will be affected by the cap. We know that covid-19 will affect poorer families more than other sections of our community. Is it not time that we moved the benefit cap to stop this situation getting worse?

[Dr Coffey]

As I have already said to the House, there may be claimants who could benefit from a nine-month grace period, where their universal credit will not be capped if they have a sustained work record. On other raises that have happened in terms of housing, changes have been made that should help people, particularly in central and outer London. However, in general, the principle is not to remove the benefit cap.