Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124424, what the evidential basis was for the conclusion that the new scheme was tested successfully.

The scheme involves contacting the refugees at the point when they are granted their status to see if they wish to apply for benefits and require assistance to do so. If they say they do, an appointment at a local DWP office is arranged for them.

The scheme was first put in place in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside region and extended to other regions of the UK after it was found that it ensured that the persons received a prompt appointment and consideration of their benefits applications could therefore begin.

The scheme is designed to ensure that the refugees receive the first payment of any benefit they are entitled to before their Home Office support ends. Further information about the scheme will be published in due course.

All frontline DWP staff have access to operational instructions that explain the support available to refugees. Staff in the areas where the refugees have been accommodated by the Home Office have received full information to make them aware of the scheme and the need to process the claims quickly.