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1039058

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2018 to Question 185101 on Universal Credit: Telephone Services, if she will publish the (a) supportive lines and (b) agent led processes used by universal credit call centre staff, in addition to the Digital Channel Product.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	207307
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/01/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit is tailored to the individual needs of the claimant and the Department has chosen not to develop scripts or supportive lines for call handlers over and above the Digital Channel product.</p><p> </p><p>Agent Led Processes (ALP’s) are low level business processes, designed to work as part of the Universal Credit service. They are embedded into the service and do not stand alone as separate guidance or instructions to staff. It is therefore not possible to split them out into individual processes for sharing purposes.</p><p> </p><p>Call handlers have access to comprehensive Universal Credit guidance. Universal Credit guidance is published in the House of Commons Library and the Department is committed to refreshing this at regular intervals.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/01/2019 17:19:20 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

1037789

	registered interest
	date	08/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2018 to Question 185101, if she will publish the agent led processes and supportive lines available to universal credit helpline staff to assist claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	206444
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2019 answer text <p>Agent Led Processes (ALP’s) are low level business processes, designed to work as part of the Universal Credit service. They are embedded into the service and do not stand alone as separate guidance or instructions to staff.</p><p> </p><p>The “Digital Channel Product” is a guide which has been developed for Service Centre staff to use during telephone calls, to encourage claimants to check and use their online account as an alternative method of contacting the Department. The product gives staff some suggested ways to introduce a discussion regarding the online digital service with claimants.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to this product, call handlers have access to comprehensive Universal Credit guidance. Universal Credit guidance is published in the House of Commons Library and the Department is committed to refreshing this at regular intervals.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/01/2019 14:38:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

1011516

	registered interest
	date	21/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for a person calling the universal credit helpline to be connected to an agent.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	194163
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2018 answer text <p>Universal Credit is a 24 hour, seven day a week digital service that allows claimants to check their Universal Credit benefit payments, notify us of changes and record notes via an online journal facility. We also see claimants regularly face-to-face in jobcentres and they can contact us via the telephone outside of these appointments. In addition, this summer we introduced a new approach where established claimants who call the Universal Credit helpline are connected directly to the person or team who are dealing with the case.</p><p> </p><p>The average waiting time for a person calling the Universal Credit Full Service helpline in the month of October 2018 was 3 minutes and 58 seconds.</p><p> </p><p>Our Average Speed of Answer (ASA) measure is the average customer wait time from the point of entering a queue to connection to an agent. This excludes any time spent in pre-queue messaging and any wait time for calls ultimately abandoned by callers prior to answer.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>Data Source: BT - OPMIS and Historical Management Information (GI2 – HMI)</p><p>Outsourced partner data is included.</p><p>The data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/11/2018 10:31:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 87211 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1002760

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what process is used by her Department to estimate the (a) average call duration and (b) amount of calls taken by case managers working on universal credit; and if she will publish the results of such estimates for each year for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	188875
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2018 answer text <p>Data can be extracted from the Universal Credit Full Service system to establish the average number of calls per day and the average duration.</p><p> </p><p>We have no plans to collect or publish this data routinely given the costs involved in maintaining it to official statistics standards.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/11/2018 18:05:10 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1002761

	registered interest
	date	06/11/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of case managers working on universal credit who are seconded to the national telephony team for each shift; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
	tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
	uin	188876
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2018 answer text <p>We currently have 400 colleagues assigned to Universal Credit national tier telephony. We retain the flexibility to adjust the number of colleagues working on some of the core functions within Universal Credit to accommodate fluctuations in demand and the number of colleagues deployed to National Tier telephony will vary month on month as required.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/11/2018 18:02:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

997186

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are targets for the amount of time call centre staff spend on the phone to universal credit (a) applicants and (b) service users; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	185100
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2018 answer text <p>There are no targets for time spent on the telephone to applicants or service users. Call durations vary dependant on the needs of the caller, and team leaders are encouraged to observe interactions to assure call quality.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/11/2018 16:49:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

997192

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the scripts that Universal Credit call centre workers use to answer calls from service users or applicants.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	185101
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2018 answer text <p>There are no scripts currently in use in Universal Credit for call handlers, the service does however guide colleagues through certain agent led processes to ensure correct steps are taken when appropriate. In addition there are supportive lines available to agents to assist claimants with being able to self-serve where this is appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/11/2018 16:52:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

997197

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data is collected by her Department on the experience of claimants using universal credit helplines.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	185102
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2018 answer text <p>The Department conducts a regular independent customer survey for all main benefits, composed of around 15,000 telephone interviews per year. During 2018/19 around 4,500 Universal Credit claimants will be interviewed and questions will cover the whole of the customer experience, including telephone contact. In future we will conduct Universal Credit specific surveys. The Department uses standard call recording technology, the data is used to assess the quality of service our staff provide.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/11/2018 16:43:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

997233

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training is provided to universal credit helpline employees; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Midlothian
	tabling member printed	Danielle Rowley
	uin	185118
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2018 answer text <p>DWP staff servicing the Universal Credit helplines have a three week facilitated learning period. This structured learning provides the skills and knowledge required to support them to answer claimant queries. Call agents may use aides to help effectively process the case and provide coaching for claimants about how to manage their online Universal Credit account. As we change processes, guidance is updated and provided to call agents at the appropriate time.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/11/2018 16:27:27 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4628 label Biography information for Danielle Rowley

997277

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2018
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls to the universal credit helpline were (a) received and (b) abandoned in each month from November 2017 to date .
	tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
	tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
	uin	185027
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/11/2018 answer text <p>The table below shows the total number of calls received each month to the Universal Credit helplines and the total number of calls abandoned by the caller in each month.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Calls Received</p></td><td><p>Calls Abandoned</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-17</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-17</p></td><td><p>802,752</p></td><td><p>101,460</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-18</p></td><td><p>1,093,644</p></td><td><p>106,273</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-18</p></td><td><p>988,243</p></td><td><p>120,511</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-18</p></td><td><p>1,056,778</p></td><td><p>133,124</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-18</p></td><td><p>1,028,343</p></td><td><p>122,402</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-18</p></td><td><p>1,065,983</p></td><td><p>153,988</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-18</p></td><td><p>1,128,677</p></td><td><p>214,973</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-18</p></td><td><p>1,230,751</p></td><td><p>249,513</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-18</p></td><td><p>1,230,985</p></td><td><p>256,914</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>1,171,124</p></td><td><p>209,140</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>The data provided is for Universal Credit Full and Live Service, including outsourced helplines and is derived from unpublished management information, collected and intended for Departmental use. This has not been quality assured to national statistics or official statistics publication standards.</li><li>Calls “Abandoned” is the total number of calls abandoned by the caller.</li><li>Accurate telephony data for the complete month of November 2017 is not available due to a technical issue during roll out of the DWP Next Generation Contact Centre (NGCC) system.</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/11/2018 16:32:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams