Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to simplify the benefits regime to reduce the extent of the form filling and assessment burdens on benefits recipients.

The DWP is currently implementing Universal Credit. This flagship welfare reform policy simplifies the benefits regime for working-age people. It replaces 6 former benefits administered by DWP, HMRC and Local Authorities, with 1 single application process to DWP. Universal Credit also makes extensive use of digital services to reduce the extent of form filling for benefit recipients, who can interact with the Department using an online account.

The introduction of the New State Pension on 6 April 2016 also provided a simpler and more straightforward benefit for pension-age customers. This is less open to misunderstanding and dispute. State Pension claims are supported by an, increasingly popular, online claims service alongside a well established telephony channel. These two channels account for the vast majority of claims and have significantly reduced form filling. DWP is currently testing a new claims portal for State Pension to further improve the citizen experience.