Welfare Administration

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 3:02 pm on 9 May 2018.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 3:02, 9 May 2018

Well, I think this speaks, really, to a fundamental disagreement between ourselves and between our parties about the place of Wales within the UK, because this is, of course, a United Kingdom that allows us to pool the risks and to share the benefits. And it is the case that the approach to the devolution of welfare benefits in Scotland has transferred that risk associated with the demand of welfare benefits to Scotland, and the risk there demonstrates that benefit requirements within Scotland are moving faster than they are in England. So, for Wales, this would provide us with a very significant risk. And the costs, I'm afraid, for administrating the welfare system would take away resources from the delivery of front-line services. Those figures are correct. For Scotland, it's £66 million for administration and a one-off payment of £200 million for the implementation of all of those newly devolved welfare powers—[Interruption.] But it's not, because they're all related to welfare powers, and those resources really should be spent on the front line.

Actually, let's be clear about what the Scottish Government is doing: the Scottish Government does not administer payments for universal credit. They're administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Scotland Act 2016 does give powers to the Scottish Government to offer flexible options for claimants, and these include the direct payment of housing cost elements to social landlords and payments twice a month after that first payment has been made. None of these things are not available to people on universal credit in Wales. What we're doing is trying to ensure that these opportunities are offered proactively to people in receipt of universal credit.