Work and Pensions Committee seeks evidence on how coronavirus is affecting people who need to rely on the benefits system

Evidence invited from those with personal experience of the benefits system, and from organisations

The Work and Pensions Select Committee is seeking evidence on how coronavirus (COVID-19) is affecting people who need to rely on the benefits system.

As part of its inquiry into the DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Committee says that it is -

'... interested in finding out about the experiences of people who are having to claim benefits for the first time, the experiences of people who were already claiming benefits, and the experiences of people who need support but find they can’t claim any benefits.'

Some of the questions the Committee is interested in are -

• how well is the universal credit system working for the unprecedented numbers of new claimants?
• how quickly are people who ask for advance payments of universal credit receiving their payments?
• what lessons can be learned from the changes that have been made to the processes for verifying the identity of universal credit claimants?
• how well is the benefits system working for self-employed people who aren’t able to access the government’s Self-employment Income Support Scheme?
• how effective have the DWP’s communications with the public been during this period?
• is it clear enough how the benefits system interacts with other forms of government support during this period, such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme?
• how is the assessment process for employment and support allowance working? Have there been any difficulties with obtaining medical evidence to support claims?
• what impact has the outbreak had on people who were waiting for a mandatory reconsideration of a decision, or who were going through the appeals process?
• are people who are claiming benefits receiving enough money to cover their basic living costs during this period?
• are there groups of people who need support but aren’t able to access it through the benefits system? What should the DWP be doing to support those people?
• are support organisations and charities able to access the resources they need from the DWP to support vulnerable people? What more could the DWP be doing to facilitate that support?

The deadline for submitting evidence is 16 April 2020.

For more information, see MPs want to hear experiences of people claiming benefits.