Universal Credit (Exceptions to the Requirement not to be receiving Education) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 — House of Lords, 2021-12-13
Topic: Social Welfare
Maeve Christina Mary Sherlock (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Storey, for introducing his Motion and all noble Lords who have spoken. I reassure the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, that while this may not be a large debate, with my help it may be slightly longer than it might otherwise have been. The reason for that is, as the noble Lord, Lord Storey, said, that this is a very complicated area. I want to set out what I think has got us to this point and invite the Minister to correct me if I am wrong, because it is important that we get that down on the record. I am grateful to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which noted that the concept behind these regulations had been "poorly explained" in the first version of the Explanatory Memorandum, and asked the DWP to reissue it. That has helped us The rules specify that, to claim universal credit, there is a broad condition that you must not be receiving education—but Regulation 14 of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 says that there are some exceptions. They include young people living independently doing A-levels or the like; those who are responsible for kids; and some disabled people who get attendance allowance, disability allowance or PIP and have limited capacity for work. All Regulation 14 does is remove the blanket requirement that you must not be in education to get universal credit. It does not stop people in those groups from facing conditionality, but disabled people in that third category—with limited capability for work—were able to get universal credit while studying However, there was a judicial review last year, instigated by two disabled students on the grounds that, before rejecting their claims for universal credit, the DWP should have determined whether they had limited capability for work. In the end, the Government did not defend the claim. What they did instead was to introduce the Universal Credit (Exceptions to the Requirement not to be receiving Education) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. Those regulations amended the 2013 regulations so that a disabled student would be eligible for universal credit only if they were classed as having limited capability for work before they started education; or if they were already in education before they made a claim for universal credit. What is happening here is that the DWP now says that those regulations were deficient because they permitted a workaround: namely, that if a disabled student makes an application for new-style ESA—contribution-based employment and support allowance—and supply medical evidence, they will automatically be referred for a work capability assessment, which could lead to them being classed as having limited capability for work. They would then be entitled to claim universal credit. The Government therefore brought forward these regulations to stop that workaround as well I have some questions. First, will the Minister say whether that is an accurate description of where we are? He can nod if he wishes. I can see him nodding: that might be a gesture of trust on his part, but I definitely note his nodding. I am sure the cavalry will arrive to reverse that nod should it prove to be an ambitious and premature nod Secondly, can we establish the size of the problem we are dealing with in this workaround? How many such cases were there last year or in the latest period for which figures are available? I tried to find this out myself, but the data do not seem to record student status. However, using age as a proxy—it is not a bad proxy for this population—I went poking around on the data on Stat-Xplore, and I think that the answer is that there are very few cases indeed. If I read it correctly, in the quarter to May, there were only 39 people aged 21 or under in the support group of new-style ESA. Can the Minister say if that seems right Thirdly, what is the effect of this latest tightening? If I have understood it aright, these latest regulations mean that no disabled student will be entitled to claim universal credit unless they have been deemed to have limited capability for work before they start their course of education. Even someone in that tiny category—someone who claimed new-style ESA and was classed as having limited capability for work—would be entitled to universal credit only if that happened before they started their course What will that mean? Like other noble Lords, I have had representations, particularly about the position of young disabled people. The Child Poverty Action Group says that the current workaround is used by some young people who are over 19 but still in basic education. Their parents can get support and universal credit for them, but that stops at the September following their 19th birthday. If this workaround is removed, the only option for these young disabled people would be to apply for universal credit in their own right. There is then a risk that they would not be allowed to carry on with their studies, unless their work coach decides that carrying on studying, even in basic education, is their best chance of getting a job The charity Contact says that some young people who have reached the September after their 19th birthday and are on non-traditional courses, such as life skills, may be able to convince their work coach to treat them as though they are not receiving education and thus get universal credit. However, Contact is worried that those who have not reached the milestone of the September after their 19th birthday are now at risk of being shut out of universal credit altogether. Can the Minister say what will happen to them I will give one brief example from Contact of a woman called Doreen, who said: "Our grandson is 21 and lives with us, his grandparents. Our grandson is in full time education at an autism specialized college with an EHC plan. He’s been getting Universal Credit since he was 17. That’s his financial income to enable him to stay in full time education to get the qualifications he needs for possible future employment. Without Universal Credit he wouldn’t have been able to continue his education at his specialist college." Can the Minister say what would happen to someone in those circumstances CPAG warns that the regulations could stop disabled people moving from college or school to university. It takes four months on average to get a work capability assessment, so how could people do that before starting university? Or is the intention that they should not, because they should rely on loans and grants Finally, if the Government are legislating again simply to deliver on the original policy intention of the 2013 regulations, which they say they are, why has it taken eight years, judicial review and three sets of legislation to get to that point? How confident is the Minister that we will not be back with a fourth set of regulations next year? There is of course another JR making its way through the system at the moment This is the latest iteration of an issue that crops up often, most recently during the passage of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, which a number of us were involved with. It is a tension between the DWP and DfE as to who supports certain categories of people going through education. Here, the DWP is claiming that disabled students are just like any other students and that, if they want to go into education, they should get grants, loans and bursaries like any other student However, as CPAG points out, many students now have to work to supplement any grants or loans they receive to get through their education. Many disabled students would find it much less easy to work alongside their course. Treating people the same does not always leave us in the best position Given the state of the disability employment gap, surely we all want to do everything we can to help disabled people get the education they need to get on and get a job in the future. The noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, is absolutely right: we should invest in all our people to enable them to fulfil their potential I think the Minister is unlikely to accept the Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Storey, given that it is a fatal Motion and the convention in this House is that we do not support Motions that will annul regulations. However, it is crucial that he looks carefully at the issues facing disabled students. Will the Government agree to review all the support provided to them, to see whether it really is possible for them to move on to education and develop as they should? I look forward to his reply.