Government urged to sweep aside bureaucracy to help those facing destitution

Chief executive of Citizens Advice Sheffield, Clare Lodder, said it had seen an increase in calls from self-employed people, those who had seen their hours cut or lost their jobs entirely, and people worried about managing on low incomes as they face unexpected costs due to the lockdown.

She has called on the Government to do all they can to help those who have gone from “almost managing to almost destitute” as quickly as possible, and said one way of cutting through the bureaucracy that would help thousands of families would be to increase the basic child benefit, rather than rely on processing new claims for Universal Credit.

“The people we are speaking to do not usually have a big income anyway, but have seen that dry up overnight,” Ms Lodder said. “People are shocked at how low benefits are.

“The people who are already financially insecure are being hit the hardest.

“Our main concern is how long it is going to take for the Government to put money into people’s pockets if it is not being put there by their employer.

“The Government should look at using existing routes to help people, such as one benefit families already know is there, child benefit. It would be a lot easier to increase the level of child benefit than to process thousands of new Universal Credit claims.”

The unprecedented pressure and volume of new benefits claims has led to people reporting delays, being unable to get through on the phone and struggling to reach advisers. It comes as the DWP’s website, Understanding Universal Credit, received approximately 200,000 hits last week.

On Tuesday, DWP Permanent Secretary Peter Schofield said around 477,000 benefits claims have been "processed" since the last week, with 105,000 being made for Universal Credit.

Mr Schofield said there had been "capacity challenges, unsurprisingly" with verifying the sudden influx of claims made.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said extra money has been directed to an online verification programme, while staff will also be making outbound calls to verify people's claims.

Ms Coffey told the Commons Work and Pensions Committee: "I want to reassure people that help, even if it is not currently the level of help that they would like, is there to help them through the safety net of the welfare state."

The pair resisted calls for further changes to the system, such as removing the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments, saying these would pose operational challenges.

Mr Schofield said: "The best way to deliver at these volumes is to keep the system as it's going and to drive it forward."

Citizens Advice Sheffield is providing an enhanced phone and online service during the coronavirus outbreak, with all of its 174 staff now based from home, and staff and volunteers “committed to doing their best for clients,” Ms Lodder said.

She added: “The Citizens Advice Bureau was set up on the second day of the Second World War, and there are certainly some parallels in the demands we are seeing at the moment. That’s why we are so determined to be there for our communities.”

Citizens Advice Sheffield can be contacted on 03444 113 111 or by email at [email protected]