Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate expertise in local housing market conditions among staff administering universal credit in jobcentres.

Priti Patel

The role of DWP is to administer the payment of Universal Credit (UC) and within that there is a Housing Cost element. The Local Authorities (LA) and Valuation Office keep their existing roles by providing valuation and housing advice. UC claims are assessed in UC service centres, not jobcentres.

UC is being rolled out in a safe and controlled way to allow us to adapt and grow the capability we need over time. To support UC in assessment of the housing costs as part of delivering the live service, LA staff have been seconded on a short term basis to support improvements in housing cost knowledge for staff in UC Service centres.