My Lords, I strongly support Amendments 10, 68 and 69, to which I have added my name. I also support the other amendments in this group, although I will not speak to them. The noble Baroness, Lady Lister, has, as always, introduced her amendments with great thoroughness and therefore I will try not to take too much of your Lordships’ time, although I do want to speak a little more on Amendment 10 than on the other two.
The proposed new subsection (7)(a) in Amendment 10 makes very good sense, requiring as it does that the commissioner within a year publishes a report on the impact of these universal credit single payments on victims of domestic abuse. Whether or not the amendment is accepted, I certainly hope that the commissioner will seek the resources from the Government to enable her to implement this recommendation.
Paragraph (b) is absolutely vital because, as organisations such as Refuge know perfectly well, action is urgently needed to resolve the problem for domestic abuse victims of the default position that universal credit is paid into a single bank account on behalf of a household. I applaud the announcement from the Department for Work and Pensions that it will “encourage” joint claimants to nominate the bank account of the main carer of any children in the household, but that simply does not go far enough at all. Too often, the abusing partner will make sure that the money goes into their account. The main carer of the children is then exposed to the perpetrator using money in a coercive and controlling way, adding economic abuse to any other forms used.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, said, a victim can ask for payments to be split between the two partners, but that is a dangerous thing to do when your partner is abusing you and is perhaps dangerous to be with. The ideal is the policy adopted in Scotland, where separate payments are the default. However, I remember the UK Government arguing strongly against such a policy when the universal credit legislation was being debated in this House all that time ago. To introduce it as the default option now would be a sharp change of direction but, in the domestic abuse context, I hope that the Minister is sympathetic.
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The alternative would be for a single payment to be paid to the primary carer of the children as the default position—not here and there but as a matter of general policy. This would be more straightforward for the Government to do and would, in my view, provide considerably greater security for the majority of victims of abuse and a fairer system for everyone.
When the majority of perpetrators are men and the majority of primary carers of children are women, it is easy to fall into the position of regarding all men as undeserving and all women as in need of support. I know of cases where the perpetrator is a woman and many cases where the carer of the children is the father. In fact, the father as the primary carer is a lot more common than it used to be. The proposal, therefore, to pay universal credit to the primary carer is not sexist but is very important, in my view. These primary care fathers are unlikely to be the perpetrators of domestic abuse, so this is a helpful way forward.
All the amendment does is to require the commissioner to publish a report, which investigates and presents alternative options for universal credit payments that protect victims of domestic abuse. The important point is that change is needed; it is not enough for the commissioner to produce a report. However, this amendment leaves it to the Government to decide which way to go.
Briefly on Amendment 68, again the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, has cogently argued the case and I only want to add my support. Again, the commissioner supports measures to ensure that the Department for Work and Pensions carries out a full impact assessment of changes to welfare policy on survivors of domestic abuse and their children. Clearly, detailed pre-legislative scrutiny is vital in the social security arena, where policy changes can have a devastating effect on individuals and, in particular, on vulnerable victims of domestic abuse. Surely the Minister will agree with us on that. I hope, therefore, that the Government accept this modest amendment.
Finally, Amendment 69 is more of a challenge for Ministers, as it would cost a bit of money, although not very much. As the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, has set out, what is known as the five-week wait is devastating for victims of domestic abuse. We know that five weeks can become eight, 10 or even 12 before a claimant receives their first benefit payment. Claimants can have an advance, which sounds nice, but it is ultimately a nightmare when claimants have their benefits reduced by up to 25% each week to repay the debt.
Universal credit is now at such a low level that repayments leave parents unable to feed their children and keep them warm and clothed. These basic human needs become choices: do we eat or keep warm? Can any of us say that that is remotely acceptable?
When domestic abuse victims generally leave home with little or no money and few possessions, as the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, said, the only two options of a complete lack of money or a loan are just not reasonable in a civilised country. The five-week wait is surely the most widely criticised aspect of universal credit—and there are many. But if the Government will not get rid of it for all claimants, as they should, I hope that the Minister accepts the modest proposal in Amendment 69.