UC digital service trial area expands ... a bit.

The new UC relevant districts - numbers 50-52 - will extend the digital service trial to two more postcode sectors Sutton next week, followed by a bit of Croydon in June (with a little more of Sutton) and then, in November,  to some more of Croydon and a fraction of Southwark.

If things go according to plan then, by November 2015, the area covered by the digital trial will have a resident population of around 90,000 ( based on 2011 census figures).

(That’s about equal to the total population of the very first pathfinder (No. 1 relevant district) from way back in April 2013.)

Assuming that the final tranche of the national expansion completes on time in Apri 2016 it will have taken 36 months to expand the live service from 90,000 to full coverage (in England, Scotland and Wales).

DWP plan to have the digital service fully available by Dec 2017 (before they even start to think about managed migration) - so they’ve allowed themselves maybe 26 months to do something which sounds similar.

It doesn’t seem very ambitious until you consider just how basic (and creaky) the live service is and how much more complex the digital service is going to have to be to cope with all the cases currently excluded by the gateway conditions. Can anyone with local knowledge say anything about how the digital service trial has gone so far -  is it going well?

Hi,
This is my first post so apologies if I’m in the wrong place.
I work in and Academy in SE1 and I process the applications for Free School Meals and Bursary dependant on families meeting the usual criteria.

If the family are in receipt of Tax credits then I assess their award notice and determine eligibility from there.

I am slightly concerned as to how will I know that they meet the criteria with in the paperwork of the Universal credit paperwork they will receive?

Is there a ‘dummy’ award letter that is being passed around that would give me some indication.

I am also very interested in any teething problems that people have had to deal with in the initial period.

Many thanks
Cheryl

Apologies - I’ve just found this

http://www.allaboutorkney.com/vao/images/documents/ThirdSectorForum/Information/Universal Credit draft award letter.pdf

I attended a UC Forum facilitated by DWP/LA this morning. Person from UC delivery team stated that digital service is going so well (apparently 97 claimants at last count!) that the planned timescale is to introduce the digital service nationwide from May 16 inc transfer of all existing UC claimants from the current IT system.

This will include providing claimant with their digital account with access codes etc. This must raise the issue of how advisers will be able to assit clients without being able to access their account and whether organistaions will record clients access codes to enable ongoing casework when client not present. Will advisers actually imput info. for client, for example, on a change of circumstances and what are the implictaions if the adviser makes an error in that imput process? Will organisation be able to get indemnity insurance cover against such error (can no longer write/speak and say ‘my client advises that….).

Have any organisations in the digital pilot had any experience of the digital account process / issues yet?

Also that DWP plan is to roll out widened gateway for couples / families in the four national roll out tranches once the initial roll out for single claims is completed early next year (presumably starting from tranche one again).