DWP should be ‘stripped of responsibility for vulnerable groups’ after Universal Credit failings ‘The DWP is institutionally and culturally incapable of making the reforms needed’

Amber Rudd’s department should be stripped of its responsibilities for “harder to help” groups such as the ill or disabled, a new report claims.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which has come under continued fire for its handling of Universal Credit, should have its responsibilities relocated elsewhere, according to the findings from think tank Demos.

“The DWP is institutionally and culturally incapable of making the reforms needed to achieve such a shift in outcomes for ill and disabled people, or for harder-to-help groups more widely,” concluded Tom Pollard, the report’s author.

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Mr Pollard spent 18 months at the Government department, on secondment from the mental health charity, Mind.

‘Services could be relocated elsewhere’

While acknowledging that the DWP had been able to help people with minor difficulties into employment, it said the outcomes were “much poorer” when looking at groups with more complex needs such as ex-prisoners, the homeless, disabled people, older people, and those with drug or alcohol problems.

Setting out the plan for its responsibilities to be handed out elsewhere, the report suggests the NHS and health department could instead help ill people find work, with local government taking over the running of job centres.

It adds that benefits and pensions could be dealt with by HMRC, while the charitable sector could also take on a bigger role.

It comes after Amber Rudd announced changes to the Universal Credit system, which combines six benefits and tax credits into a single payment, saying it was not “compassionate” or “effective.”

The plans had been fiercely opposed by Tory MPs, while Labour has called for its roll-out to be halted.

‘The department could be abolished altogether’

“If the department as it stands remains […] we will face further years of well-intentioned reforms and programmes yielding disappointing outcomes”

Demos Report

The report even went as far as to say the department could be abolished altogether if the removal of responsibilities was found to be working.

“If the removal of these functions from the DWP proves to be a success, a more comprehensive approach could see the department abolished altogether,” it argues.

“If the department, as it stands, remains at the heart of employment support for harder-to-help groups, we will face further years of well-intentioned reforms and programmes yielding disappointing outcomes, because of how they will be formulated and how they will be received.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “This report is completely misguided and we have no plans to reduce functionality at a time when unemployment is at its lowest, welfare reforms are rolling out across the country and millions are saving for a private pension for the first time. Jobcentres are a local presence yet benefit from a national framework.

“The DWP supports around 20 million people to get into work and save for their retirement, as well as giving stability to those who cannot work, and will continue to do so as one responsible organisation.”