Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2018 to Question 182811 on Children: Maintenance, what progress she has made on improving case worker training on unearned income.

New caseworker call guidance was developed and was incorporated into a ‘Change to Income’ supporting product that was delivered via Dial and Deliver sessions in 2018 and was supported by a Leaders Briefing. As part of this enhancement to assist caseworkers, the Policy, Law and Decision Making Guidance (PLMDG) was revised on 4^th June 2018.

In 2020 the Child Maintenance Group introduced a dedicated national expert domain to help caseworkers with all queries, including those relating to income. These colleagues have delivered local bite sized sessions on upskilling in income & documentation.

Additionally, from a system perspective we have improved the process for processing additional income variations (including Unearned Income variations) to assist caseworkers.