Page 108 - Reforming Benefits Decision-Making

and documents, inputting housing costs and calculating income and expenses,
as well as navigating the application process itself. One third of people who
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start UC claims do not go on to complete them.

4.22 The 2018 JUSTICE Working Party report, Preventing Digital Exclusion from
Online Justice, made several recommendations for online justice services to
be assistive, accessible and affordable to users. These principles apply equally
to the processes for claiming and managing benefits. The availability of non-
digital methods was found by the Working Party to be essential for a process
to be accessible to all.
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4.23 All of the consultees we spoke to who either have experience of the benefits
system themselves or are benefits advisers raised serious concerns about the
‘digital by default’ nature of UC. It is incredibly difficult for claimants who
are not computer literate or do not have access to the equipment or data
necessary to use the online application process. However, it is not just the
application process that causes difficulties. Once claimants have successfully
made an application, there are still ongoing issues with the digital by default
nature of the system. We were told that claimants often miss things, for
example, interviews, because they are unable to access their online account in
time. Claimants also receive text messages saying that there has been an
update to their online journal without any further details of what the update
relates to. This causes some claimants without readily available access to the
internet or a digital device considerable anxiety as they do not know whether
it is something minor where no action is required on their behalf or whether it
is informing them of something that they could be sanctioned for if they are
unable to do it.

4.24 We acknowledge that the DWP does in theory provide alternative means of
engaging with UC, however this is largely through the UC Helpline. We were
told that this has incredibly long wait times and that it is an onerous process to

311 GDC v SSWP (UC) [2020] UKUT 108 (AAC), para 13.

312 The importance of user-centric design is recognised in the Government Design Principles which
guide the development of digital processes. Principle 6, for example, states that: “[w]e’re designing for
the whole country, not just the ones who are used to using the web. The people who most need our
services are often the people who find them hardest to use”.

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