Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the MP hotline will be available over the Christmas period for urgent universal credit casework inquiries.

For MPs who have issues with constituents who are full service Universal Credit claimants, the Complaints Resolution Team route is available. We have recently confirmed that claimants do not need to give consent for MPs and their caseworkers to raise concerns. It is also important to remember that, in the full service, Universal Credit claimants, Universal Credit service centre colleagues and Universal Credit work coaches have access to a claimant’s online journal, which holds the details of a claim. In effect, any of these Universal Credit colleagues can provide the service that an MPs’ hotline would deliver.

We are also currently writing to MPs as the full service goes live in their constituency. These letters explain the implicit consent arrangements for MPs. The letters also give the telephone number and email address of the district manager in the constituency so that MPs can contact district managers if there are urgent constituent cases that need attention. The letter also mentions that the jobcentre will be contacting the MP to arrange a visit to the jobcentre. This visit is another opportunity for MPs’ offices to build the relationship with their local Complaints Resolution Team.