Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hours of training is planned to be given to her Department's decision-makers to identify people who may be vulnerable or have complex needs for the purposes of the universal credit managed migration.

All DWP staff working with customers complete training that prepares them for their role. This includes developing the skills they need to support and communicate with a diverse range of customers, and specific training is provided for working with different vulnerable groups.

We are taking a slow, measured approach to managed migration and this will allow for on-going evaluation of the process to ensure that it is working successfully, which will enable us to refine our methods to support claimants.

The revised draft regulations now before Parliament provide that we must give claimants a minimum of three months in which to make a claim for Universal Credit and sets no maximum period in which a claim must be made. With unlimited flexibility to extend claim periods we will work with representative groups to produce guidance that will ensure adequate support for each individual claimant’s needs.

Decision makers and all our customer facing staff undertake learning related to supporting vulnerable claimants. Decision Makers receive 19.5 hours of training on dealing with vulnerable groups and line managers review whether there is a need to refresh the knowledge / learning with individuals where appropriate.