Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the 2013 Care Leaver Strategy, what progress has been made on introducing a care leaver marker in the universal credit system.

The Department takes seriously the need to support vulnerable claimants, and wants the application process for Universal Credit to be as quick and easy as possible, ensuring that claimants receive money at the earliest opportunity.

Through locally agreed protocols, Jobcentres and local authorities support care leavers transitioning to DWP paid benefits. This helps ensure care leavers are identified promptly and receive the support they need, for example through the advance claim preparation facility.

All Universal Credit claimants, including those who are care leavers, are assigned to a named Work Coach, with whom they can build a trusting relationship. With the permission of the claimant, a Work Coach is able to record, in a free text format, through the use of ‘pinned notes’ in the Universal Credit system, information which supports staff in identifying and managing relevant experiences and circumstances of individual claimants.

Additionally, the Department funds Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver ‘Help to Claim’ which provides tailored, practical support to people making a
Universal Credit claim and is available across Great Britain. Claimants can access this support through self-referral, or may be directed towards or referred to the service by DWP or other support agencies.