Cost to the authority of Universal Credit

The request was partially successful.

To whom it may concern,

Please can I request under the Freedom of Information Act:

a) Any estimate of the total monetary cost to your authority of the introduction of Universal Credit since its inception in 2013 (ideally broken down by municipal year and including 2018/19 to date);

b) The total monetary value of any crisis loans funded by yourselves and given to Universal Credit claimants since January 1 2013;

c) The total funding given by yourselves to third-sector organisations for the purpose of supporting Universal Credit claimants since January 1 2013;

d) The cost to yourselves of offering support or advice to Universal Credit claimants who are in financial difficulty or struggling with the process of claiming Universal Credit since January 1 2013;

If the following request cannot be met within cost limits, please provide advice on how I may refine my request.

Yours faithfully,

Claire Wilde

Broadland District Council

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Freedom of Information,

Thank you for your FOI.

We went UC full service in October 2018 and before that only had a couple of postcodes covered by UC. We haven’t invested in any hard technology or other services. Staff have had some internal and external training and there have been low level costs for presence at the job centre.

This is my estimate:

a) Any estimate of the total monetary cost to your authority of the introduction of Universal Credit since its inception in 2013 (ideally broken down by municipal year and including 2018/19 to date);

I cannot break down by year -Estimate £1,200 for training.

b) The total monetary value of any crisis loans funded by yourselves and given to Universal Credit claimants since January 1 2013;

Not known

c) The total funding given by yourselves to third-sector organisations for the purpose of supporting Universal Credit claimants since January 1 2013;

Nil

d) The cost to yourselves of offering support or advice to Universal Credit claimants who are in financial difficulty or struggling with the process of claiming Universal Credit since January 1 2013;

Estimate £300 for travel costs and £1,500 for staff costs for presence at Job Centre for providing advice

I trust this response will meet your purposes but if, for whatever reason, you wish to get back to me please feel free to do so. In particular if you are unhappy with the information provided or how your request was handled please make contact and I will explain how you can make a complaint either to the Council or to the Information Commissioner.

Regards

Helen Cowles
Service Improvement Officer
01603 430615 [email address]  

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