Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the tender process for Help to Claim retains adequate face-to-face provision.

The Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society, in both making and maintaining their claim.

From the 1^st April 2022, we plan to replace ‘Help to Claim’ with the ‘Future Support Offer’. The competition to deliver this support has recently closed and we will announce more details in due course.

Until 31^st March 2022, Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland will continue to deliver the Help to Claim support, mainly through their telephony and web chat channels. However, both organisations have started re-introducing face to face support within a number of sites, in line with Government guidance, and we will continue to support them with this.