Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) bosses have confirmed that they are “stepping up” home visits as part of some new Universal Credit claims.
The Director General for Fraud, Disability and Health at the DWP, Neil Couling, told a Parliamentary committee that DWP officials are now making 30,000 home visits a month, up from the previous 15,000. He also said they have expanded the number of officers they have for home visits from around 350 to 700.
The extra home visits are part of the benefit department’s plan to move people claiming older “legacy benefits” onto Universal Credit. The benefits being replaced by Universal Credit are: Housing Benefit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Income Support.
Under its plan, DWP officers visit a claimant’s home in cases where they have been invited to claim Universal Credit but have not received a response. They also visit in cases where a person needs extra help with their application.
The process of moving people over is called “Managed Migration”, and it is being done in stages. When it is your turn to move to Universal Credit, you’ll receive a “migration notice” in the post – and this will give you a three-month deadline to start claiming Universal Credit. After this date, your existing benefits will be stopped.
The home visits are part of the DWP’s focused plan for moving over those claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA), which is a benefit people can claim if they cannot work because of an illness or disability. In November 2024, around 800,000 people were claiming ESA.
According to DWP data, around 69,000 people moving to Universal Credit have gone through the “enhanced support” process, meaning the DWP provides extra help to assist them in applying, such as doing a home visit. All of those on ESA will get enhanced support if they don’t claim by week 12 from the date of their migration notice. The DWP also noted that if a claim has not been placed, it will not terminate your benefits without making further efforts to contact you.
Advice on the Government website about home visits states: “The DWP Visiting Team will call you to book a visit and tell you what to expect, including how to contact them. You’ll get a letter to confirm the booking, but if the visit has been booked at short notice, it may happen before you get the letter.”
Speaking to the Work and Pensions Committee about their cohort of officials doing the home visits, Neil Couling said: “The plan for the rest of this year and for the coming year have this enhanced support journey at their core. We absolutely must do everything we can to ensure that claimants on ESA who typically are more vulnerable than the previous cohorts we’ve been working through, make their way safely onto Universal Credit.”
Social security and disabilities minister, Sir Stephen Timms, also appeared before the committee and told MPs that the DWP is “experimenting” with how best to use the visiting officers. Specifically, it is looking at sending them out to other places where they can be on hand to help claimants, other than just to people’s homes.
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