PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Children: Day Care (19 December 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 19 of the written evidence submitted by Gingerbread to the Work and Pensions Committee, UCR0106, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of knowledge of the Universal Credit childcare offer among DWP work coaches.

Asked by:
Dr Rupa Huq (Labour)

Work coaches and case managers receive a blend of face-to-face and online learning, which focuses on the technical delivery of Universal Credit, the transformational change, as well as consolidation of their training post-completion.

All work coaches receive specialist training on childcare in Universal Credit Full Service as part of this learning journey, which is designed to support them in the delivery of the service.

This training, with the aid of the Universal Credit Full Service Guidance, enables work coaches and case managers to:

• state when a claimant is eligible to claim childcare costs
• check if a childcare provider is registered
• record childcare provider details on the Training Service
• verify childcare costs
• clerically calculate child care costs paid in advance
• state the time limits for providing evidence
• state what reasonable usage is

Furthermore, the Universal Credit Full Service has a training feature that allows our staff to experience the system before their site goes live with the Full Service.

Answered by:
Damian Hinds (Conservative)
21 December 2017