AQW 10788/22-27

Mr Daniel McCrossan
Social Democratic and Labour Party
West Tyrone

Tabled Date: 24/04/2024
Answered On Date: 02/05/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail (i) what areas his Department is unable to retain parity with the Department for Work and Pensions due to staff shortages; and (ii) what he plans to do to address these issues.

Answer:

My Department is unable to maintain parity with the Department for Work and Pensions’ plans for maximising employment by reducing economic inactivity and supporting the progression of claimants into work, and for tackling fraud and error as set out in the Government's Back to Work plan and successive budget statements, without the allocation of the funding made available to address these issues.

While the additional workloads created by the Move to Universal Credit exercise and ongoing legislative changes are currently being absorbed on a priority basis by existing work areas within Universal Credit, this situation serves only to further erode our capacity and capability to maintain parity with the Department for Work and Pensions.