Managing the impact of Housing Benefit reform
Published on:DWP is working to manage the introduction of the housing benefit reforms and has a critical role to play in anticipating adverse consequences.
DWP is working to manage the introduction of the housing benefit reforms and has a critical role to play in anticipating adverse consequences.
Review of a sample of the data systems underpinning the input and impact indicators in the Department for Work and Pensions’ Business Plan, Common Areas of Spend and wider management information.
Plans by CMEC to reduce its spending are based on uncertain estimates. There is a risk that additional cuts might be needed late on in the Spending Review which could have an adverse effect on services.
Our 2016 memorandum was prepared to inform the Work and Pensions Committee’s inquiry into the future of Jobcentre Plus (JCP), including the likely effects of planned welfare policy changes on JCP footfall and journey time to jobcentres. In October 2017 we published an associated interactive data model allowing exploration of the time it will take for people to travel to their nearest jobcentre.
After a poor start, the performance of the Work Programme is at similar levels to previous programmes but is less than original forecast. The Department has struggled to improve outcomes for harder-to-help groups. The Programme has the potential to offer value for money if it can achieve the higher rates of performance the Department now expects.
The Department for Work and Pensions has introduced the Work Programme quickly, in just over a year, and this has had benefits, but the speed with which it was launched has also increased risks. The Department and providers have made assumptions about how many people the Programme will get back into work but there is a significant risk that they are over-optimistic.
The Pensions Regulator and other agencies regulating defined contribution pension schemes should take a concerted approach towards collecting evidence and assessing risks to members.
The DWP has had to delay the Personal Independence Payment programme’s roll-out and reduce expected savings during this Spending Review period.
The DWP has reset Universal Credit on a sounder basis but at significant cost, by extending the time for implementation and choosing a more expensive approach.
This Departmental Overview is one of 17 we have produced covering our work on each major government department. It summarises our work on the Department for Work and Pensions during 2010-2011.
It will be difficult for government departments to achieve value for money from means-tested benefits unless government understands the impacts of means testing, learns from past experience and improves coordination between different benefits.
The C&AG has qualified the Social Fund Account for the eighth consecutive year. The account has been qualified because of material levels of error in discretionary awards, which include Budgeting Loans, Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants, and in Funeral Expense Payments. He has also qualified, for the first time, his opinion on Cold Weather Payments.
The NAO has published its report on the 2010-11 accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has today reported on the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission’s Client Funds Account 2008-09 and 2009-10.
This memorandum has been prepared for the Scottish Affairs Committee and provides an overview of the Health and Safety Executive’s work in Scotland.
The Department for Work and Pensions will have to make rapid progress in reorganising the way it operates if it is to meet its target of cutting costs by £20 billion in four years while achieving substantial reform of the welfare system.
Reported fraud in Employment Programmes is low despite past flaws such as in the New Deal. New improvement controls are better, yet risks remain.
MyCSP has the potential to be good value for money with a projected saving of 50 per cent on costs, but the Cabinet Office and MyCSP still face many large challenges in transforming the service.
Changes made in 2007-08 to public service pension schemes are on course to deliver savings and stabilise pension costs. However the value for money of the changes cannot be demonstrated in the absence of a strategic assessment of their long term impact on staff motivation and retention.
Two government programmes aiming to help families with multiple challenges, such as unemployment and anti-social behaviour, are starting to provide benefits but considerable challenges remain.